GREAT  LAKES 
NAVAL  TRAINING  STATION 


F  RANCIS  BUZZELL 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


GIFT  OF 


COMMODORE  BYRON  MCCANDLESS 


THE  GREAT  LAKES 
NAVAL  TRAINING  STATION 


THE  GREAT  LAKES 
NAVAL   TRAINING   STATION 

A  HISTORY 


BY 

FRANCIS  BUZZELL 

Wartime  Editor  of  "The  Great  Lakes  Recruit"  and  Historian 
of  the  Ninth,  Tenth  and  Eleventh  Naval  Districts 


ILLUSTRATED  FROM  PHOTOGRAPHS 


BOSTON 

SMALL,  MAYNARD  &  COMPANY 
PUBLISHERS 


Copyright,  1919, 

BY  SMALL,  MAYNARD  &  COMPANY 
(INCORPORATED) 


V 


The  author  was  given  permission 
to  prepare  this  history  by  Secretary 
Daniels.  Therefore,  in  this  sense,  it 
is  the  official  history  of  the  Great 
Lakes  Naval  Training  Station. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PACK 

I  GREAT  LAKES'  EXPANSION       .      .     .;    w    t.i     .  i 

II  GREAT  LAKES'  ADMINISTRATION 27 

III  THE  SUPPLY  DISBURSING  DEPARTMENTS  ...  48 

IV  THE  STATION  BUILDERS 65 

V  THE  HOSPITAL  AND  REGIMENTAL  DISPENSARIES  .  75 

VI     THE   "DETENTION"   AND   APPRENTICE   SEAMEN 

REGIMENTS 89 

VII  THE  SPECIAL  SCHOOLS 108 

VIII  PAGEANT  DAYS  AND  SPECIAL  REVIEWS      .      .      .    135 

IX  THE  GREAT  LAKES'  "LIBERTY"  BAND     .      .      .    143 

X  GREAT  LAKES'  ATHLETIC  RECORD 153 

XI  THE  WELFARE  ORGANIZATIONS     .      .      .      .      .171 

XII  ENTERTAINING  THE  "GOBS"  ,  200 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Thirty-five  Thousand  Great  Lakes  Sailors        .         .     Frontispiece 

PAGE 

Thousands  of  Sailors  form  a  living  "Vive  la  France"  .         .  24 

Captain  W.  A.  Moffett  giving  a  message  to  his  Orderly        .  24 

The  Main  Entrance  to  Great  Lakes      .....  24 

Instructors  in  the  Main  Rigging  Loft 25 

Captain  Moffett  and  his  Staff  lead  Liberty  Loan  Parade  in 

Chicago 25 

A  Destroyer  of  the  Land  Fleet 25 

The  Supply  Storage  in  the  Main  Drill  Hall  ....  62 
The  Supply  Officer,  Lieutenant-Commander  H.  B.  Worden, 

and  his  Staff 62 

A  Company  Mess  Hall 62 

The  Firemen's  Classroom 63 

A  Regimental  Street  of  Barracks  ......  63 

The  Machinists'  Mates  Class 63 

Captain  H.  E.  Odell  and  Lieutenant-Commander  H.  F.  Hull 

with  Medical  Officers  attached  to  the  Hospital      .        .  86 

The  Interior  of  a  Hospital  Ward 86 

The  Board  of  Medical  Survey 86 

Ensign  P.  B.  Riley,  Commanding  Officer  of  Outgoing  Deten- 
tion, and  his  Assistants 87 

"Still"  Practice  with  Field  Guns 87 

Waiting  for  the  Call  to  "Shove  Off" 87 

Bluejacket  Signalmen  on  the  Bridge  of  a  Regimental  Head- 
quarters' Building 114 

Practice  in  the  "Dry  Land  Boats" 114 

"  Deck  Seamanship "  Practice 114 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

.'AGE 

Gunners'  Mates  Practising  Loading 115 

Ready  for  Cutter  Practice 115 

Cutter  Drill 115 

Instructors  in  Officer  Material  School 132 

At  Work  on  a  Flying  Boat    .......  132 

A  Miniature  Flyer  Designed  by  the  Students  .  .  .  132 

One  of  the  Famous  "  Singing  Squares  " 133 

Presentation  of  the  Colors 133 

A  Review  on  a  Pageant  Day 133 

The  "Rookie  "Band 150 

Lieutenant  Sousa  and  a  Section  of  the  Great  Lakes  Band  .  150 
A  Detachment  of  the  Great  Lakes  Band  Heading  a  Parade 

in  Chicago 150 

Secretaries  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  going  through  Military 

Formations 151 

M.  H.  Bickham,  General  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Secretary  .  .  .151 

The  Corps  of  Chaplains 151 

Secretaries  of  the  American  Red  Cross  at  Great  Lakes  .  182 

Interior  of  the  Jolly  Tar  Club 182 

The  Reading  Room  at  Red  Cross  House  .  .  .  .182 


THE  GREAT  LAKES 
NAVAL  TRAINING  STATION 


THE  GREAT  LAKES 
TRAINING  STATION 

CHAPTER  I 

GREAT  LAKES'  EXPANSION 

THIS  is  the  story  of  America's  Jack  and  the 
Beanstalk;  of  America's  Middle-Western  blue- 
jackets and  the  little  naval  training  station 
which  so  suddenly  grew  to  be  the  largest  and  most 
efficient  in  the  world,  far  outstripping  in  the  magnitude 
and  multiplicity  of  its  achievement  all  other  training 
camps,  whether  military  or  naval. 

Just  why  the  naval  training  station  at  Great  Lakes 
grew  to  be  the  most  productive  in  the  world — just  why 
this  astounding  development  of  something  naval  should 
take  place  a  thousand  miles  from  salt  water — may  still 
be  a  matter  of  considerable  astonishment  to  the  seaboard 
sections  of  the  country. 

But  the  great  Middle  West  was  not  astonished,  nor 
were  Captain  William  A.  Moffett  and  his  staff.  For 
the  great  Middle  West,  sending  its  maturer  sons  into  the 
Army,  gave  its  youth,  its  boys  just  out  of  high  school,  its 
boys  on  the  threshold  of  manhood,  to  the  Navy.  And 
thus  giving,  the  great  Middle  West  saw  no  reason  why 
its  own  naval  training  station,  located  on  one  of  its  own 
great  inland  seas,  should  not  become  the  most  important, 
the  most  productive,  in  the  world. 


2     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

Tremendously  energizing  though  this  spirit  was,  it 
could  not  alone  account,  however,  for  Great  Lakes  be- 
coming the  Navy's  main  source  of  man-power.  The 
youth  of  the  Middle  West  might  have  gone  to  the  sea- 
board for  its  apprenticeship;  Great  Lakes  might  have 
become  only  a  mere  outfitting  depot  for  naval  recruits 
from  Illinois  and  the  few  surrounding  states,  instead  of 
an  establishment  capable  of  quartering,  feeding  and 
training  as  high  as  50,000  men  at  a  time,  which  was  its 
status  late  in  the  summer  of  1918. 

That  this  didn't  happen;  that  Great  Lakes  became — 
in  the  words  of  Secretary  Daniels — the  patriotic  capital 
of  the  Central  West — was  due  most  directly  to  the  fore- 
sight and  untiring  energy  of  Captain  W.  A.  Moffett — 
the  Commandant  whose  policy  of  refusing  to  include 
"can't"  in  his  vocabulary,  or  to  tolerate  its  use  by  his 
subordinates,  caused  to  be  overcome  obstacle  after 
obstacle  that  seemed  insurmountable. 

Captain  Moffett  realized  what  was  going  to  happen  in 
the  Middle  West,  arose  to  the  occasion,  and  boomed  it 
along.  It  all  seems  quite  obvious  now,  but,  like  all  ob- 
vious things,  it  wouldn't  have  happened  at  Great  Lakes 
just  as  it  did,  had  not  the  right  man  been  at  hand  as  com- 
mandant. Captain  Moffett  had  his  fingers  on  the  pulse 
of  the  Middle  West;  he  knew  what  was  going  to  happen 
and  rushed  preparations.  When  Washington  asked 
him  how  many  men  he  could  take  care  of  and  train,  he 
answered  in  detail  and  convincingly. 

Less  than  a  week  after  the  United  States  entered  the 
World  War  the  youth  of  the  Middle  West  began  to  flow 
into  Great  Lakes.  They  came  in  long  trainloads. 
They  came  from  as  far  west  as  Denver  and  from  as  far 
east  as  Pittsburg;  they  came  from  Galveston,  Texas; 


GREAT  LAKES'  EXPANSION  3 

from  Bismarck,  North  Dakota;  from  Duluth,  Minne- 
sota; they  came  from  all  the  big  and  little  cities,  from  all 
the  towns,  from  nearly  every  crossroad,  in  an  ever- 
increasing  flow. 

But  Great  Lakes,  designed  to  accommodate  not  more 
than  1500  apprentice  seamen,  was  not  swamped.  This 
is  the  astonishing  part  of  it — Great  Lakes  was  not 
swamped ! 

The  great  brick  buildings  of  the  permanent  station 
became,  in  those  first  few  days,  merely  the  center,  the 
nucleus,  of  a  great  tented  city — of  America's  greatest 
City  of  Youth.  The  difficulties  met  with  and  overcome 
in  obtaining  the  tents  need  not  be  entered  into  here. 
The  important  fact  is  that  they  were  obtained,  more  than 
6000  of  them,  and  that  each  tent  was  provided  with  three 
iron  cots,  and  each  cot  with  sufficient  blankets.  Out 
of  the  welter  of  rushed  preparation  soon  emerged  a  well- 
defined  plan  for  expansion,  and  it  was  the  rapidity  with 
which  this  development  took  place  that  made  Great 
Lakes  the  largest  naval  training  station  in  the  world. 

For  the  moment,  let  us  review  the  Great  Lakes  Naval 
Training  Station  as  it  was  two  or  three  months  before 
America's  entry  into  the  World  War. 

At  the  beginning  of  1917  Great  Lakes  comprised 
thirty-three  buildings  of  permanent  brick  construction, 
located  on  one  hundred  and  sixty-seven  acres  of  land. 
The  officers  attached  to  the  Station  were :  Captain  W. 
A.  Moffett,  Commandant;  Lieutenant  L.  N.  McNair, 
Executive  Officer;  Lieutenant  Tracy  McCauley,  Public 
Works,  Communication  and  Engineer  Officer;  Lieuten- 
ant C.  S.  Roberts,  head  of  the  Department  of  Education 
and  Athletics,  and  District  Enrolling  Officer ;  Assistant 
Paymaster  R.  S.  Robertson,  Disbursing  and  Commissary 


4     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

Officer;  Paymaster  Farwell,  Supply  Officer;  Surgeon  C. 
E.  Ryder,  Medical  Officer;  Assistant  Surgeon  N.  R. 
Sullivan,  Assistant  Medical  Officer;  Assistant  Surgeon 
Meyer,  Dentist;  Chaplain  Frank  Thompson,  Chaplain; 
four  medical  officers  attached  to  the  Naval  Hospital,  lo- 
cated on  the  Station  but  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
Bureau  of  Medicine  and  Surgery,  and  four  ensigns  for 
instruction  in  academic  subjects.  In  addition  to  the 
above  commissioned  officers  there  were  five  warrant 
Officers:  Chief  Boatswain  Martin  Fritman,  Drill  Of- 
ficer; Boatswain  V.  C.  Carpenter,  Boatswain  Depart- 
ment ;  a  machinist  and  a  carpenter  attached  to  the  Public 
Works  Department;  and  one  pay  clerk.  Immediately 
upon  the  declaration  of  war,  Lieutenant  McCauley  and 
three  of  the  ensigns  were  detached  and  sent  to  sea. 
The  normal  complement  of  recruits  was  approximately 
one  thousand  men.  The  regular  course  of  training, 
covering  a  period  of  from  four  to  six  months,  was  such 
as  was  usually  given  apprentice  seamen,  and  there  were 
no  special  schools.  In  1916  the  average  number  of  re- 
cruits received  at  Great  Lakes  each  month  was  two  hun- 
dred and  twenty,  or  less  than  ten  recruits  a  day.  In 
January,  1917,  the  number  of  recruits  received  jumped 
to  six  hundred  and  eighteen,  due  to  the  stimulation  of 
enlistments  in  the  Ninth,  Tenth  and  Eleventh  Naval 
Districts  caused  by  the  passage  of  the  Reserve  Act, 
which  created  the  Naval  Reserve  Force.  During  this 
month  the  average  number  of  recruits  received  was 
about  twenty  per  day.  If  a  batch  of  twenty-five  men 
were  received,  it  was  considered  a  crowd.  In  February, 
1917,  the  recruits  received  numbered  922;  in  March, 
1364;  and  in  April — the  month  of  the  declaration  of  war 
— 9027. 


GREAT  LAKES'  EXPANSION  5 

Contrast  the  above  facts  with  the  following  and  you 
will  get  an  idea  of  Great  Lakes'  tremendous  growth — 
a  growth  so  astounding,  so  replete  with  the  accomplish-, 
ment  of  the  seemingly  impossible,  that  it  will  never  be 
forgotten  by  those  who  witnessed  it.  On  November 
n,  1918 — the  day  the  armistice  was  signed — Great 
Lakes  was  going  at  top  speed.  It  had  spread  itself  over 
1200  acres  of  land,  and  comprised  775  buildings.  Nine 
of  these  buildings  were  great  drill  halls,  in  each  of 
which  an  entire  regiment  of  1726  men  could  drill  in 
regimental  formation.  Its  population  on  that  date  was 
in  the  neighborhood  of  45,000  men,  and  its  administra- 
tive and  operating  personnel  consisted  of  approximately 
seven  hundred  commissioned  and  warrant  officers,  and 
eight  thousand  enlisted  men.  Of  the  commissioned  of- 
ficers comparatively  few  belonged  to  the  regular  navy 
establishment,  the  greater  number  being  men  who  were 
recruited  into  the  Naval  Reserve  Force  from  the  ranks 
of  business  and  professions  of  the  Middle  West.  Some 
of  these  men  came  into  the  service  as  commissioned  of- 
ficers ;  others  entered  Great  Lakes  as  "gobs"  and  worked 
their  way  up  to  administrative  positions.  Therefore, 
the  great  Middle  West  can  honestly  claim  credit  not  only 
for  providing  the  Navy  with  the  best  and  most  efficiently 
trained  portion  of  its  man-power,  but  also  for  producing 
many  of  the  officers  who,  under  Captain  W.  A.  Mof- 
fett's  magnificent  leadership,  were  so  instrumental  in 
making  Great  Lakes  an  example  of  wonderwork  that 
drew  astonished  admiration  from  the  many  representa- 
tives of  the  Allied  countries  who  visited  it  in  1918. 
During  the  actual  war  period — from  April  6,  1917  to 
November  n,  1918 — Great  Lakes  received  for  training 
125,000  men.  During  this  period  96,779  men  were 


6     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

transferred  to  sea,  and  the  special  schools,  organized  to 
provide  intensive  training  and  instruction  for  recruits 
who  could  qualify  for  quick  advancement,  graduated 
17,356  men. 

This  is  an  achievement,  for  which  the  great  Middle 
West  can  pat  itself  upon  the  back  and  chuckle  with  glee. 
For  when  Great  Lakes  was  established  by  an  act  of 
Congress,  April  27,  1904,  on  a  site  donated  by  the  Com- 
mercial Club  of  Chicago,  the  project  was  laughed  at  as 
a  glaring  example  of  Congressional  "pork."  It  was 
still  being  laughed  at  when  the  completed  station  was 
officially  opened  by  President  Taft  on  October  28,  1911. 
The  idea  of  a  naval  training  station  a  thousand  miles  in- 
land may  still  have  resulted  in  a  laugh  as  late  as  the  be- 
ginning of  1917. 

When  the  United  States  entered  the  World  War, 
things  had  to  happen  quickly — particularly  in  the  Navy. 
The  way  to  Europe  had  to  be  kept  clear,  and  this  was  the 
Navy's  job.  The  Navy,  therefore,  couldn't  build  its 
training  camps,  and  then,  when  the  camps  were  com- 
pleted, call  its  recruits  for  training.  Instead,  it  had  to 
receive  its  recruits  as  rapidly  as  they  volunteered, 
provide  temporary  quarters  for  them,  train  them 
in  the  rudiments  of  seamanship,  as  well  as  in  military 
practice,  and  at  the  same  time  plan  to  build  substantial 
cantonments  adequate  for  the  demands  of  a  war  the 
duration  of  which  could  not  be  estimated — all  of  which 
applies  particularly  to  the  situation  at  Great  Lakes  when 
war  was  declared. 

Officers  were  scarce,  discouragingly  so.  Imagine,  if 
you  can,  the  task  that  loomed  before  Captain  W.  A. 
Moffett,  and  the  handicap  with  which  he  started.  He 


GREAT  LAKES'  EXPANSION  7 

had  only  eight  officers  of  the  line  on  his  entire  staff,  and 
four  of  these  were  detached  and  sent  to  sea  immediately 
war  was  declared.  The  Navy  Department  not  only  de- 
tached these  officers,  but  many  experienced  petty  officers 
as  well,  and  then  found  itself  unable  to  provide  others 
to  carry  on  the  work  at  Great  Lakes.  So  Captain  Mof- 
f  ett  was  authorized  to  enroll  both  officers  and  men  in  the 
Naval  Reserve  Force.  Men  who  had  had  previous  ex- 
perience in  the  Merchant  Marine  or  in  any  military 
organization  were  examined  and  commissioned.  Petty 
officers  were  invaluable  and  scarce — the  demand  for 
them  had  somehow  to  be  met.  Chief  petty  officers  who 
had  been  company  commanders  under  normal  conditions 
became  regimental  commanders,  and  every  petty  officer 
of  the  line  on  the  Station  was  made  a  company  com- 
mander. But  even  this  didn't  suffice,  so  a  training  camp 
for  petty  officers  was  immediately  established.  Picked 
men  from  the  apprentice  seamen  companies  were  sent  to 
this  camp  for  a  period  of  intensive  training,  and  within 
a  short  time  Great  Lakes  was  provided  with  a  steadily 
increasing  number  of  competent  company  commanders, 
who  did  excellent  work  in  the  handling  and  training  of 
thousands  upon  thousands  of  recruits.  More  than  one 
hundred  of  these  company  commanders,  it  may  be  in- 
teresting to  know,  passed  the  required  examinations  be- 
fore the  United  States  had  been  in  the  war  many  months 
and  became  commissioned  officers,  serving  both  at  Great 
Lakes  and  on  board  the  fighting  ships.  It  is  a  record 
of  which  Great  Lakes  may  be  proud  that  from  the  very 
beginning  it  developed  and  trained  its  own  officer  and 
petty  officer  material. 

On  April  i,  1917 — six  days  before  the  declaration  of 


8     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

war — Great  Lakes  was  already  overcrowded,  there  be- 
ing 2500  men  on  the  Station  at  that  time.  And  during 
April,  9027  recruits  were  received. 

The  section  of  the  Great  Lakes  Naval  Training  Sta- 
tion known  as  "Incoming  Detention"  was,  naturally,  one 
of  the  first  to  become  congested.  It  consisted  at  that 
time  of  a  number  of  brick  structures  at  the  southwest 
corner  of  the  reservation,  and  could  accommodate  ap- 
proximately five  hundred  men  for  the  total  detention 
period  of  twenty-one  days.  It  was  complete  in  every  de- 
tail for  handling  this  number  of  men,  having  in  its  brick 
structures  everything  essential  in  a  detention  camp. 
But  now  five  hundred  recruits  were  being  received  daily 
and  provision  had  to  be  made  for  them.  Tents  sufficient 
to  afford  quarters  for  approximately  1800  men  were 
raised  on  every  available  spot  in  Incoming  Detention 
except  the  drill  field,  and  even  then  it  became  necessary 
to  transfer  men  to  other  sections  of  the  Station  at  the 
expiration  of  two  or  three  days,  or  immediately  after 
they  were  outfitted  and  had  received  one  inoculation  and 
one  typhoid  prophylaxis. 

Then  these  other  sections  of  the  Great  Lakes  Naval 
Training  Station  became  congested  in  their  turn  and 
several  thousand  men  had  to  be  transferred  to  the  Re- 
ceiving Ships  on  the  eastern  coast  within  a  few  days  and 
with  practically  no  training.  For  the  first  couple  of 
weeks  of  the  war,  Great  Lakes  was,  therefore,  only  a  re- 
ceiving and  distribution  center  instead  of  a  training 
camp — which  it  might  have  continued  to  be  for  many 
months  had  it  not  been  that  Captain  W.  A.  Moffett,  with 
boundless  energy,  cheerfulness  and  resourcefulness, 
spurred  on  his  small  staff  of  officers.  Many  times  the 
immediate  outlook  was  dark,  but  within  less  than  a 


GREAT  LAKES'  EXPANSION          ;       9 

month  sufficient  tents  had  been  received  to  house  thou- 
sands of  men  and  regular  training  was  resumed. 

In  ordinary  times  it  was  considered  a  good  day's  work 
completely  to  outfit  the  twenty-five  recruits  who  might 
be  received  on  a  single  day,  but  when  they  came  by  hun- 
dreds it  became  necessary  to  adopt  new  methods  of  pro- 
cedure or  be  hopelessly  swamped.  When  consideration 
is  given  to  the  fact  that  forty-four  pieces  were  included 
in  each  clothing  allowance,  that  each  piece  of  clothing 
had  to  be  stenciled,  that  it  was  necessary  to  furnish  each 
recruit  with  a  hammock,  mattress,  mattress  cover,  two 
blankets,  and  the  necessary  gear  for  stringing  ham- 
mocks, and  that  requisite  entries  had  to  be  made  in  the 
receipt  and  transfer  of  all  recruits,  it  can  be  seen  what 
an  enormous  amount  of  continuous  detail  and  laborious 
work  was  necessary  properly  to  handle  the  number  of 
men  who  daily  reported  at  Great  Lakes. 

To  expedite  this  work,  one  of  the  permanent  struc- 
tures in  Incoming  Detention  was  set  aside  for  receiving 
the  recruits,  and  holes  were  cut  through  the  walls  to- 
make  all  the  dormitories  connecting.  By  this  arrange- 
ment a  recruit  could  enter  this  building  as  a  civilian  and 
leave  it  as  a  sailor,  fully  outfitted.  In  the  first  section 
he  received  a  complete  outfit  of  clothing,  in  the  next 
every  one  of  the  forty-four  pieces  was  stenciled,  and  in 
the  third  section  he  received  his  blankets,  mattress  and 
hammock.  This  system  worked  excellently,  as  many 
as  one  thousand  men  being  thus  outfitted  in  twenty-four 
hours. 

The  clothing  supply,  however,  being  limited,  became 
depleted  in  the  first  few  weeks  of  the  war,  and  fresh 
supplies  were  delayed  because  of  transportation  difficul- 

^s,  due  to  the  congested  condition  of  railroad  termi- 


io    THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

nals.  Therefore,  for  a  certain  period,  it  became  impos- 
sible to  outfit  the  new  men  as  soon  as  they  arrived  on  the 
Station. 

Transportation  troubles  also  interfered  with  the 
prompt  delivery  of  much-needed  tents.  Every  one  of 
the  permanent  barracks  at  Great  Lakes  housed  double 
its  capacity;  half  the  men  quartered  in  each  barrack 
swinging  in  hammocks,  and  the  other  half  sleeping  be- 
low them  on  cots.  The  great  drill  hall  of  the  permanent 
station  and  the  instruction  building  were  also  used  as 
barracks. 

The  messing  (feeding)  of  the  men  was  accomplished 
by  setting  three  different  messes  for  each  meal  in  the 
Main  Mess  Hall,  and  accommodating  two  thousand  men 
at  each  mess,  thus  making  equipment  designed  to  feed 
not  more  than  fifteen  hundred  men  at  a  meal  provide  for 
six  thousand.  The  remainder  of  the  men  were  taken 
care  of  at  the  Galley  in  Incoming  Detention. 

During  these  first  weeks  every  officer  and  every  en- 
listed man  permanently  detailed  on  the  Station  worked 
eighteen  and  twenty  hours  a  day.  While  part  of  the 
operating  organization  was  busy  handling  the  flow  of 
recruits,  other  parties  were  working  day  and  night  drain- 
ing land  and  laying  out  tented  camps,  the  tents  being 
put  up  and  filled  with  men  as  fast  as  they  were  received. 
The  Naval  Militia  organizations  of  Minnesota,  Mis- 
souri, and  the  western  district  of  Michigan,  reported  at 
Great  Lakes  within  the  first  month  of  the  war.  They 
were  quartered  in  tents  erected  on  a  plot  of  land  imme- 
diately north  of  the  Main  Station,  and,  along  with  the 
thousands  of  other  recruits  who  flowed  into  Great 
Lakes,  endured  many  hardships.  This  was  the  begin- 


GREAT  LAKES'  EXPANSION  n 

ning  of  Camp  Paul  Jones,  which  became  the  largest 
tented  section  on  the  Station  during  the  summer  of  1917. 
During  that  summer  it  contained  more  than  five  thou- 
sand tents.  Mess  for  the  men  in  this  camp  was  pre- 
pared in  temporary  wooden  galleys  located  along  the 
edge  of  the  bluff  looking  out  over  Lake  Michigan.  The 
service  was  cafeteria  style,  the  men  forming  in  lines, 
three  hundred  and  fifty  for  each  galley,  and  having  their 
plates  filled  as  they  passed  by.  In  fair  weather  they  ate 
on  the  ground,  and  in  wet  weather  shelters  were  erected 
out  of  old  tents  and  tent  flies  to  protect  them.  The 
drinking  water  was  piped  from  the  Main  Station  and 
supplied  to  the  various  companies  through  hydrants  lo- 
cated at  the  ends  of  the  company  streets.  Every  other 
morning  the  men  were  marched  to  the  barracks  of  the 
Main  Station  for  a  bath.  During  the  day  buckets  were 
used  for  washing  purposes.  Camp  Paul  Jones  was  ideal 
in  dry  weather,  but  when  it  rained,  and  it  rained  con- 
siderably in  the  spring  of  1917,  hip-boots,  of  which 
there  were  but  few  in  stock,  became  an  important  part 
of  a  man's  uniform.  The  ground  around  the  galleys 
and  in  the  regimental  streets  was  a  sea  of  soggy  clay  in 
bad  weather,  and  the  men  were  obliged  to  stand  up  in 
about  six  inches  of  this  to  eat  their  meals. 

When  Camp  Paul  Jones  was  well  under  way,  with 
adequate  galleys,  garbage  disposal  apparatus,  and  la- 
trines established,  the  reorganization  of  the  personnel 
was  undertaken.  This  was  accomplished  by  dividing 
the  men  quartered  in  Camp  Paul  Jones  into  regiments 
of  1726  men  each.  Before  the  end  of  May,  the  First, 
Second  and  Third  regiments  had  been  thus  organized, 
and  the  men  put  under  intensive  training.  Cinder  roads 


12     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

were  then  built,  the  ground  was  leveled,  and  every  tent 
was  provided  with  a  wooden  deck. 

By  this  time  the  number  of  men  at  Great  Lakes  had 
grown  so  large  and  the  lack  of  officers  was  still  so  great 
that  the  Executive  Officer,  Lieutenant  Lawrence  Mc- 
Nair,  was  placed  in  direct  command  of  Camp  Paul 
Jones.  Before  the  increase  in  population  Lieutenant 
McNair  had  had  general  direction  of  the  drilling  and 
instruction  of  recruits,  as  well  as  the  general  direction 
and  operation  of  the  entire  Station  under  the  Command- 
ant. The  Drill  Officer,  Chief  Boatswain  Martin  Frit- 
man,  was  given  charge  of  all  incoming  recruits  and  the 
men  on  the  Main  Station.  And  the  actual  functions 
of  Executive  Officer  were,  for  the  time-being,  assumed 
by  the  Commandant  personally. 

Ways  and  means  for  the  proper  handling  and  dis- 
patch of  business  were  still  regrettably  inadequate  and 
every  department  at  Great  Lakes  suffered.  Only  by  the 
most  untiring  efforts  of  the  officers  and  the  enlisted  men 
who  assisted  them  were  the  setbacks  which  continually 
occurred  alleviated. 

By  the  middle  of  June  Great  Lakes  had  its  first  breath 
and  Captain  Moffett  and  his  staff  had  thoroughly  ana- 
lyzed all  apparent  difficulties  and  devised  methods  to 
overcome  them.  The  training  camp  for  petty  officers, 
organized  to  turn  out  much-needed  company  command- 
ers, was  in  full  swing;  the  Hospital  Corps  Training 
School,  opened  in  March  with  a  class  of  twenty  hospital 
apprentices,  had  seven  hundred  and  fifty  apprentices 
under  instruction;  the  Signal  and  Radio  Schools  had 
grown  so  large  that  they  had  to  be  separated ;  the  Great 
Lakes  Naval  Band  had  grown  until  it  contained  two 
hundred  and  fifty  musicians;  the  aviation  school  had 


GREAT  LAKES'  EXPANSION  13 

been  started  with  two  officers  and  a  few  enlisted  men; 
miles  of  tented  streets  had  been  laid  out ;  men  were  being 
sent  to  the  fighting  ships  in  great  train  loads;  and  the 
various  departments  were  becoming  more  thoroughly 
organized  and  broadened  in  their  scope. 

And  while  all  this  was  going  on,  Captain  W.  A.  Mof- 
fett,  with  unflagging  energy  and  the  assistance  of  all 
the  experts  he  could  lay  hands  upon,  worked  out  the 
plans  for  Great  Lakes'  War-time  development.  This, 
too,  is  another  achievement  that  Great  Lakes  can  be 
proud  of — that,  unassisted  by  Washington,  it  formu- 
lated and  developed  to  the  minutest  detail,  its  own  plans 
for  the  expansion  that  resulted  in  its  becoming  the  larg- 
est and  most  thoroughly  equipped  training  camp  in  the 
world. 

Data  was  obtained  regarding  all  the  army  canton- 
ment plans  and  compared  with  the  particular  needs  of 
a  naval  organization  such  as  Great  Lakes.  A  number 
of  tentative  plans  were  drawn  up,  and  these  were  criti- 
cized freely  by  all  the  officers  concerned  at  Great  Lakes, 
as  well  as  by  the  different  bureaus  in  the  Navy  Depart- 
ment. The  plan  which  was  finally  approved  took  the 
Main  Station  as  a  regimental  unit  and  duplicated  it. in 
frame  buildings,  each  duplication  being  a  regimental 
unit  designed  to  be  complete  in  itself,  with  its  own  ad- 
ministration and  instruction  building,  drill  hall,  galley 
and  mess  halls,  dispensary,  and  heating  pknt.  Each 
regimental  unit  accommodated  1726  men. 

Why  Captain  W.  A.  Moffett  adopted  the  regimental 
unit  as  the  basis  for  the  expansion  of  Great  Lakes  is 
quite  obvious — when  once  explained.  It  wasn't  possible 
to  determine  just  when  the  war  would  end,  nor  how 
great  the  Navy's  demand  for  man-power  would  be. 


i4     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

Had  Great  Lakes  been  expanded  simply  as  an  enlarge- 
ment, a  spreading  out  of  the  Main  Station,  which  is  the 
way  that  cities  grow — each  additional  demand  for  en- 
largement would  have  resulted  in  many  complications 
and  readjustments.  Captain  Moffett  and  his  staff 
planned  for  just  such  a  contingency,  the  result  being  that 
Great  Lakes  was  able,  simply  by  adding  regimental  unit 
after  regimental  unit,  to  multiply  itself  to  any  size  the 
war  demanded  without  any  radical  change  in  anything 
previously  constructed.  How  important  this  was  will 
be  shown  later. 

The  United  States  had  not  been  in  the  World  War 
more  than  a  month  before  authority  was  received  from 
Washington  to  lease  land  and  prepare  plans.  In  May, 
E.  H.  Clark,  a  Chicago  architect,  was  enrolled  in  the 
Naval  Reserve  force  as  a  junior  grade  lieutenant,  and 
he  at  once  enlisted  several  young  Chicago  draughts- 
men. Within  two  weeks,  working  day  and  night,  this 
architectural  staff  had  completed  the  plans  for  seven 
regimental  units  for  regular  training  purposes,  and  two 
regimental  units  to  be  used  as  incoming  detention  camps. 

Captain  Moffett,  accompanied  by  Rear-Admiral  Al- 
bert Ross,  Commandant  at  Great  Lakes  during  the  con- 
struction of  the  original  Station,  took  the  plans  to  Wash- 
ington to  have  them  approved.  The  result  was  permis- 
sion to  construct  wooden  cantonments  to  accommodate 
20,000  men,  and  contracts  were  let  for  the  construction 
of  Camps  Perry,  Dewey,  Farragut  and  Decatur.  As 
planned  and  carried  out,  Camp  Perry  comprised  four 
regimental  units  and  Camp  Dewey,  three  regimental 
units.  Camps  Farragut  and  Decatur,  designed  as  in- 
coming detention  camps,  each  consisted  of  one  regi- 
mental unit.  At  the  same  time  a  contract  was  let  for 


GREAT  LAKES'  EXPANSION  15 

the  construction  of  sufficient  buildings  to  give  the  Main 
Hospital  a  capacity  of  fourteen  hundred  beds  and  pro- 
vide adequate  quarters  for  its  operating  personnel.  The 
plans  for  the  expansion  of  the  hospital  were  prepared 
by  the  Bureaus  of  Medicine  and  Surgery  and  Yards  and 
Docks. 

At  about  the  same  time  Captain  Moffett  received  an 
appropriation  for  the  construction  of  Camp  Ross,  a 
regimental  unit  to  be  used  as  an  outgoing  detention 
camp.  The  buildings  in  this  regimental  unit  were  of 
galvanized  iron  and  of  the  portable  type,  which  made 
it  possible  to  complete  this  camp  and  have  it  ready  for 
occupation  while  the  other  camps  were  still  under 
way. 

The  actual  construction  of  Camps  Perry,  Dewey, 
Decatur  and  Farragut  commenced  early  in  July.  Fields 
that  were  covered  with  a  crop  of  corn  one  week  were 
covered  by  a  mass  of  buildings  and  building  material  the 
next;  barracks,  drill  halls,  galleys  and  mess  halls,  and 
instruction  buildings  sprang  up  like  mushrooms.  The 
greatest  difficulty  experienced  was  that  of  transporting 
and  hauling  material  about  the  various  camps.  This 
difficulty  was  overcome  by  utilizing  the  services  of  the 
12,000  men  at  that  time  at  Great  Lakes.  Owing  to  the 
untiring  energy  of  these  men,  who,  although  new  to 
discipline,  were  willing  workers  and  seemed  never  to 
tire,  lumber  piles,  brick,  machinery,  plumbing  material, 
and  building  fixtures  were  moved  from  place  to  place 
as  if  by  magic. 

By  the  end  of  September,  1917,  Camp  Farragut  was 
completed,  and  on  October  6  it  became  the  main  Incom- 
ing Detention  Camp,  and  the  Incoming  Detention  execu- 
tive headquarters  was  moved  into  it.  A  short  time  later 


1 6    THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

Camp  Decatur  was  completed,  thus  adding  another 
regimental  unit  to  Incoming  Detention. 

In  October  the  seven  regimental  units  contained  in 
Camps  Perry  and  Dewey  were  ready  for  occupation. 
With  the  first  sustained  spell  of  cold  weather  which  oc- 
curred the  latter  part  of  this  month,  the  appearance  of 
Great  Lakes  underwent  a  change.  The  miles  of  tented 
streets  so  familiar  to  the  thousands  upon  thousands  of 
visitors  who  thronged  the  Station  on  Pageant  Days  dur- 
ing the  summer  months  of  1917  disappeared  over  night. 
When  the  order  was  given,  the  thousands  of  men  folded 
up  their  tents  and  stole  away  into  barracks  that  were 
double-floored  and  sealed,  and  provided  with  steam  heat 
and  hot  and  cold  running  water.  Incidentally,  they  dis- 
carded the  military  cot  for  the  sailor's  hammock.  By 
the  first  of  November  practically  every  man  on  the  Sta- 
tion had  been  moved  into  barracks. 

Two  features  of  great  importance  stand  out  promi- 
nently in  the  construction  of  these  wooden  cantonments. 
One  of  these  was  the  regimental  unit  system,  the  purpose 
of  which  has  already  been  explained,  and  the  other  was 
the  comprehensive,  thorough  manner  in  which  each 
separate  regimental  unit  was  further  subdivided  to  make 
doubly  sure  that  any  kind  of  contagion  could  be  quickly 
and  effectively  segregated. 

Great  Lakes,  as  Captain  Moffett  planned  its  expan- 
sion, was  not  only  to  become  the  largest  naval  training 
station  in  the  world,  but  one  that  was  as  contagion-proof 
as  the  particular  conditions  would  allow.  Captain  Mof- 
fett knew  that  the  boys  just  finishing  high  school,  the 
boys  on  the  threshold  of  manhood,  were  more  liable  to 
bring  and  spread  contagion  than  were  the  men  who  an- 
swered the  Army's  call.  So  one  of  the  first  things 


GREAT  LAKES'  EXPANSION  17 

that  Captain  Moffett  did  was  to  call  into  the  service  an 
architect  who  had  had  considerable  experience  in  the 
designing  of  tubercular  camps. 

What  was  accomplished  in  1917  along  the  lines  of 
making  Great  Lakes  contagion-proof  is  best  explained 
in  conjunction  with  the  architectural  description  of  the 
regimental  units.  Two  distinct  architectural  plans  were 
adopted — one  for  the  detention  camps,  and  the  other  for 
the  main  training  camps. 

Each  of  the  seven  regimental  units  comprising  Camps 
Perry  and  Dewey  consisted  of  a  galley  and  twelve  semi- 
detached mess  halls ;  six  H-shaped  barracks  units;  a  store- 
house with  a  barber  shop,  tailor  shop  and  post  office;  an 
executive  and  instruction  building;  and  a  dispensary  and 
sick  bay  with  a  detached  observation  ward.  In  Camp 
Dewey  was  erected  a  drill  hall  which,  at  that  time,  was 
the  largest  in  the  world.  Even  Captain  Moffett  didn't 
know  how  large  it  would  be  when  he  decided  upon  its 
construction.  What  he  asked  for  was  a  drill  hall  so 
large  that  an  entire  regiment  of  1726  men  could  drill 
in  it  without  the  slightest  cramping  of  regimental  evo- 
lutions. This  drill  hall  was  six  hundred  feet  long  by 
one  hundred  and  two  feet  wide. 

In  planning  the  mess  building  for  each  of  these  regi- 
mental units,  Captain  Moffett  realized  that  to  bring  a 
large  number  of  boys  together  in  one  huge  hall,  the  at- 
mosphere of  which  was  warm  and  heavy  with  the  odors 
of  food,  would  not  be  the  best  way  in  the  world  to  com- 
bat disease.  So,  instead  of  one  great  eating  hall  in  each 
regimental  unit,  the  mess  building  for  each  of  these 
regimental  units  comprised  a  large,  perfectly-equipped 
galley,  around  which  were  grouped  twelve  mess  halls, 
each  of  which  accommodated  a  company  of  144  men. 


1 8     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

These  company  mess  halls  were  provided  with  outside 
doors,  so  that  the  men  could  enter  them  directly  from 
the  open  air,  and,  on  leaving,  go  directly  out  into  the 
open  air  again. 

The  result  was  that  at  no  time  while  in  the  mess  build- 
ings did  the  men  of  one  company  come  in  contact  with 
the  men  of  any  other  company. 

In  the  H-shaped  barracks  units  a  still  further  division 
was  made  in  an  endeavor  to  prevent  contagion.  Each 
one  of  these  barracks  units  contained  four  hammock- 
hung  dormitories,  and  each  dormitory,  accommodating 
seventy-two  men,  had  its  own  shower  baths,  wash  basins 
and  other  toilet  facilities,  making  it  a  self-contained 
unit  having  no  inner  connection  with  any  other  unit. 

The  value  of  this  arrangement  in  preventing  the 
spread  of  contagion  almost  speaks  for  itself.  If  a  man 
came  down  with  measles,  scarlet  fever,  or  any  one  of 
the  other  -contagious  diseases,  the  only  men  he  came  in 
direct  contact  with  were  the  seventy-one  others  occupy- 
ing that  particular  dormitory  with  him.  And  they 
could  be  immediately  isolated  from  the  rest  of  the  camp 
without  being  moved  from  the  dormitory  in  question, 
and  be  kept  so  isolated  until  such  time  as  the  medical 
department  considered  their  release  advisable. 

In  the  two  incoming  detention  camps — Camps  Far- 
ragut  and  Decatur — the  subdivisioning  was  necessarily 
carried  much  further  than  in  the  main  training  camps. 
In  these  camps  not  more  than  twenty-four  recruits  were 
ever,  under  any  circumstance,  found  in  close  contact 
indoors.  Camps  Farragut  and  Decatur  each  comprised 
one  regimental  unit  accommodating  1726  men.  The 
barracks  units,  instead  of  being  H-shaped  and  only  six 
to  a  regimental  unit — as  in  the  main  training  camps — 


GREAT  LAKES'  EXPANSION  19 

were  constructed  singly,  and  there  were  thirty-six  in 
each  regimental  unit.  These  single  barracks  were  sub- 
divided into  two  non-communicable  sections — each  com- 
prising a  dormitory,  a  service  room,  and  the  required 
shower  baths,  wash  basins,  etc.  Twenty-four  men  oc- 
cupied each  section. 

There  were  no  mess  halls,  either  large  or  small  in 
Incoming  Detention — simply  a  galley  for  each  regi- 
mental unit.  The  food,  when  cooked  and  ready  to  serve, 
was  placed  in  metal  receptacles — one  for  each  kind  of 
food — and  these-  metal  receptacles  were  nested  in 
vacuum  cans,  which  were  then  transported  by  motor 
trucks  to  the  different  dormitories.  When  finally  served 
to  the  twenty-four  men  in  the  service  room  of  each 
dormitory,  the  food  was  practically  as  warm  as  when 
it  left  the  galley.  The  dishes  and  other  culinary  utensils 
used  in  each  dormitory  never  left  that  particular  dormi- 
tory but  were  washed  and  sterilized  in  a  scullery  located 
in  a  corner  of  the  service  room.  The  vacuum  cans  and 
the  metal  receptacles  that  fitted  into  them  were  thor- 
oughly sterilized  in  the  main  scullery  before  again  reach- 
ing the  galley. 

All  of  which,  as  already  mentioned,  had  one  big  vital 
purpose,  the  prevention  of  contagion.  So  well  was  the 
problem  handled  that  when  a  recruit  in  Incoming  De- 
tention came  down  with  any  one  of  the  diseases  to  which 
boys  are  so  susceptible,  not  more  than  the  twenty-three 
recruits  sharing  the  dormitory  with  him  had  to  be  tem- 
porarily isolated  as  "contacts." 

About  the  time  that  the  regimental  units  in  Camps 
Perry  and  Dewey  were  completed  the  forces  of  the 
Public  Works  Department,  all  of  whom  were  enlisted 
men,  began  the  erection  of  a  regimental  unit  in  Camp 


20     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

Paul  Jones.  This  was  the  first  big  construction  job  for 
which  sailors  themselves  provided  the  labor. 

On  December  26,  1917,  Great  Lakes  had  a  population 
consisting  of  24,744  men,  several  hundred  of  whom  re- 
ceived subsistence  and  lived  off  the  Station.  Several 
hundred  more  were  quartered  in  the  Main  Drill  Hall. 

At  the  close  of  1917,  Great  Lakes  consisted  of  twelve 
regimental  units,  the  First,  Second,  Third,  Fourth,  Fifth, 
Sixth  and  Seventh,  forming  Camps  Perry  and  Dewey: 
the  Eighth  and  Ninth  being  the  Incoming  Detention 
camps — Farragut  and  Decatur ;  the  Tenth,  an  Outgoing 
Detention  Camp;  the  Eleventh,  the  Main  Station;  and 
the  Twelfth  the  regimental  unit  in  Camp  Paul  Jones 
constructed  by  the  Public  Works  Department  for  the 
housing  of  its  own  forces. 

The  winter  of  1917-18  was  one  of  the  bitterest  in  the 
history  of  the  Northern  States.  Cold  weather  closed 
down  upon  Great  Lakes  early  in  November,  and  blizzard 
followed  blizzard.  For  weeks  at  a  time  the  tempera- 
ture seldom  rose  above  zero. 

Building  operations  were  practically  at  a  standstill, 
and  the  number  of  recruits  received  during  the  first 
couple  of  months  of  1918  was  comparatively  light.  In 
preparation  for  the  great  expansion  which  was  to  take 
place  in  1918,  certain  important  steps  in  reorganization 
took  place. 

During  January  and  February  the  population  of 
Great  Lakes  was  about  21,000  men.  The  outgoing 
drafts  averaged  not  more  than  three  hundred  men  per 
week.  In  February,  1074  recruits  reported  at  Great 
Lakes ;  in  March  2358. 

With  the  approach  of  spring,  building  operations  were 


GREAT  LAKES'  EXPANSION  21 

commenced  on  a  huge  scale,  for  an  expansion  twice  as 
great  as  that  which  occurred  during  1917 — an  expan- 
sion calculated  to  give  Great  Lakes  a  winter  capacity  of 
40,000  men,  housed  in  steam-heated  barracks,  provid- 
ing fifty  square  feet  of  floor  space  per  man,  or  a  capa-city 
of  80,000  men,  if  but  twenty-five  square  feet  of  floor 
space  was  allowed  per  man,  which  was  the  case  in  the 
camps  constructed  in  1917. 

The  Public  Works  Department,  in  cooperation  with 
the  Bureau  of  Yards  and  Docks,  had  drawn  up  plans  for 
four  new  regimental  units  to  be  used  for  the  training  of 
apprentice  seamen,  and  to  be  known  as  Camp  Lawrence ; 
for  three  new  Outgoing  Detention  umts,  designated  as 
Camp  Luce ;  for  a  great  aviation  school  unit ;  for  a  new 
Incoming  Detention  unit  to  be  known  as  Camp  Barry, 
and  for  a  unit  to  be  used  as  a  school  for  the  training  of 
ensigns. 

The  Aviation  Unit  was  the  first  of  the  big  construc- 
tion projects  of  1918  to  be  started.  Before  work  could 
be  commenced  on  the  actual  construction  of  Camp  Luce, 
fifteen  or  twenty  buildings,  the  greater  number  of  which 
were  residences,  had  to  be  removed  from  the  newly  pur- 
chased tract  of  land.  The  work  of  moving  these  houses 
and  remodeling  them  for  use  as  officers'  quarters  was 
undertaken  by  the  enlisted  men  of  the  Public  Works  De- 
partment. 

During  the  month  of  April  approximately  6000  re- 
cruits were  received  at  Great  Lakes.  In  May  the  num- 
ber more  than  doubled,  15,553  being  received.  The 
number  of  recruits  arriving  during  the  month  of  June 
totaled  16,345. 

During  May  and  June  the  thousands  of  tents,  which 


22     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

had  been  stored  away  for  the  winter,  were  again  put 
to  use  to  provide  accommodations  for  the  unprecedented 
rush  of  recruits. 

In  the  meantime,  with  the  construction  of  the  Aviation 
Unit  and  Camp  Luce  progressing  rapidly  by  contract 
labor,  the  enlisted  forces  of  the  Public  Works  Depart- 
ment— sailor  carpenters,  painters,  electricians,  plumbers 
and  fitters,  and  the  like — were  themselves  doing  a  tre- 
mendous amount  of  construction  work.  At  this  time 
they  had  under  construction  two  regimental  units  in 
Camp  Paul  Jones  and  were  building  a  sufficient  number 
of  new  barracks  in  Camp  Decatur  to  double  its  capacity 
as  an  Incoming  Detention  unit.  They  also  constructed 
Constitution  Field,  which  was  developed  by  them  into 
one  of  the  largest  and  finest  athletic  fields  in  the  country ; 
erected  special  office  buildings,  scores  of  mess  halls, 
storehouses,  latrines,  etc.,  built  bridges  and  roads,  made 
alterations  and  repairs  all  over  the  Station,  and  cleaned 
up  the  new  camps  as  rapidly  as  they  were  finished  by 
contract  labor. 

One  of  the  most  notable  bits  of  construction  work  ac- 
complished by  the  "sailor  forces"  of  the  Public  Works 
Department  during  the  summer  of  1918  was  the  erec- 
tion, in  the  course  of  one  week,  of  thirty-five  temporary 
frame  barracks  in  Camp  Barry,  thus  providing  an  ad- 
ditional Incoming  Detention  Unit  to  relieve  the  conges- 
tion in  Camps  Farragut  and  Decatur. 

That  the  above  mentioned  building  feat  was  the  result 
of  an  urgent  necessity  may  be  gained  from  the  fact  that 
during  the  month  of  July  the  number  of  recruits  re- 
ceived in  Incoming  Detention  was  22,081. 

The  three  "big  months"  at  Great  Lakes  were  May, 
June  and  July — during  which  53,979  recruits  were  re- 


GREAT  LAKES'  EXPANSION  23, 

ceived.  Imagine,  if  you  can,  the  tremendous  amount  of 
effort  and  unremitting  labor  required  to  handle  such  a 
great  number  of  men.  During  July  an  average  of  seven 
hundred  and  fifty  men  per  day  was  received  in  Incoming 
Detention,  the  busiest  day  being  July  27,  when  a  total  of 
1743  men  reported.  As  rapidly  as  the  recruits  ap- 
peared, they  were  formed  into  companies  of  one  hun- 
dred and  forty-four  men  each  and  rushed  through  the 
formalities.  Companies  were  outfitted  both  day  and 
night.  Their  clothing,  hammocks,  mattresses,  etc.,  were 
stenciled  in  the  barracks  they  occupied,  or,  if  they  were 
quartered  in  tents,  at  assigned  stenciling  rooms.  The 
inoculations  were  arranged  for  at  the  sick  bays  in  each 
regiment. 

It  is  a  singular  fact  that  but  one  question  was  asked 
and  only  one  answer  required  in  outfitting  a  recruit,  and 
that  had  to  do  with  the  size  of  his  shoes.  The  outfitting 
of  recruits  in  Incoming  Detention  was  so  well  systema- 
tized that  it  became  possible  completely  to  outfit  an  entire 
company  of  one  hundred  and  forty-four  men  in  an  hour. 
On  July  29,  the  clothing  room  broke  all  records  by  com- 
pletely outfitting  2315  recruits.  By  August  the  big  rush 
of  recruits  was  over,  only  8255  being  received  during 
the  entire  month.  During  September  only  5944  re- 
cruits were  received. 

Great  Lakes'  population  reached  its  highest  point  on 
August  27,  when  there  were  47,721  men  on  the  Station. 
The  average  complement  for  September  was  but  slightly 
below  this  figure,  despite  the  fact  that  during  July, 
August  and  September  24,500  men  were  transferred  to 
sea. 

In  the  meantime  the  construction  of  the  new  regi- 
mental units  had  progressed  rapidly.  The  huge  Avia- 


24     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

tion  Unit — the  largest  single  regimental  unit  on  the  Sta- 
tion— was  occupied  by  the  Aviation  Regiment  before  the 
middle  of  July.  This  regimental  unit  contained  eleven 
double-decked  (two  story)  H-shaped  barracks,  and  five 
double-decked  I-shaped  barracks;  a  machine  shop  five 
hundred  feet  long  by  100  feet  wide;  an  Instruction 
Building  of  the  same  size;  a  three  hundred-foot  building 
containing  a  forge,  welding  and  carpenter  shop;  three 
power  houses;  two  24-block  test  sheds;  an  armory;  an 
aviation  stores  building;  a  regimental  headquarters 
building;  the  largest  Y.  M.  C.  A.  building  on  the  Station; 
a  hangar;  a  canteen  and  small  stores  building;  a  dispen- 
sary; a  Lutheran  Brotherhood  building;  a  garage;  and 
a  machine-gun  rifle  range. 

During  the  period  in  which  the  Aviation  Regiment 
was  moving  into  its  new  quarters  and  becoming  settled, 
a  complete  regimental  unit  for  an  aviation  camp  to  be 
located  in  France  was  assembled  and  transferred  in 
three  sections,  totaling  1800  men.  This  aviation  regi- 
ment consisted  of  aviation  quartermasters  and  machin- 
ists' mates,  regular  machinists'  mates,  gunners'  mates, 
yeomen,  storekeepers,  bookkeepers,  riggers,  draftsmen, 
bricklayers,  stone  masons,  concrete  mixers,  laborers, 
firemen,  truck  drivers,  coppersmiths,  plumbers,  and  fit- 
ters, boilermakers,  carpenters,  sailmakers,  blacksmiths, 
surveyors,  cabinet  makers,  two  companies  of  seamen, 
and  a  regimental  band  consisting  of  twenty-eight  pieces. 
Of  such  trades  is  the  Navy  made  up. 

The  first  of  the  regimental  units  to  be  completed  in 
Camp  Luce  was  occupied  the  latter  part  of  July,  and 
during  the  following  month  the  two  other  units  compris- 
ing this  camp  were  completed.  As  these  three  regi- 
mental units  were  designed  for  outgoing  detention  pur- 


Thousands  of  Sailors  form  a  living  "  Vive  la  France " 

Captain  W.  A.  Moffett  giving  a  Message  to  his  Orderly 

The  Main  Entrance  to  Great  Lakes 


Instructors  in  the  Main  Rigging  Loft 

Captain  Moffett  and  his  Staff  lead  Liberty  Loan  Parade  in  Chicago 
A  Destroyer  of  the   Land  Fleet 


GREAT  LAKES'  EXPANSION  25 

poses,  the  barracks  were  constructed  separately,  and 
each  of  these  barracks,  which  were  double-decked,  was 
divided  into  four  non-communicable  sections,  the  accom- 
modations being  twenty-five  men  to  a  section.  These 
sections  had  their  own  sculleries  and  mess  rooms.  The 
food  was  prepared  in  a  central  galley  and  delivered  to 
the  barracks  in  vacuum  containers. 

Each  of  these  Outgoing  Detention  Units  contained 
thirty-four  double-decked  barracks ;  a  galley,  storeroom, 
armory  and  power  house;  a  dispensary  and  a  sick  bay; 
a  Y.  M.  C.  A.  building;  a  Knights  of  Columbus  Building, 
and  a  ship's  store. 

These  three  regimental  units  provided  Great  Lakes 
with  an  Outgoing  Detention  Camp  which  could  prepare 
10,000  men  for  transfer  to  sea  every  three  weeks. 

Camp  Lawrence,  comprising  four  regimental  units 
for  training  apprentice  seamen,  was  not  started  until 
August,  and,  therefore,  was  just  nearing  completion 
when  the  armistice  was  signed.  The  first  companies  of 
apprentice  seamen  were  received  in  Camp  Lawrence  a 
few  days  before  the  war  came  to  an  end.  Camp  Law- 
rence was  equipped  to  quarter  and  train  approximately 
10,500  men. 

The  actual  ending  of  hostilities,  with  Germany  hope- 
lessly beaten,  was  the  only  thing  that  stopped  Great 
Lakes'  expansion.  At  that,  it  took  several  weeks  to 
slow  down  after  the  signing  of  the  armistice,  so  great 
was  the  impetus.  Had  the  war  continued  into  1919, 
Great  Lakes  would  have  become  a  training  camp  of 
100,000  men. 

But  the  physical  development  and  expansion  of  Great 
Lakes  is  only  the  shell  of  the  real  achievement.  The 
96,779  men  who  were  trained  and  sent  to  sea  was  the 


26     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

great  contribution.     The  splendid  work  accomplished  at 
Great  Lakes  was  universally  recognized. 

The  type  of  bluejacket  it  produced  set  a  new  standard 
for  efficiency.  The  boys  of  the  great  Middle  West  were 
more  than  welcome  aboard  the  fighting  ships,  for  they 
were  soon  found  to  be  the  best  trained  of  any  sent  to  the 
Fleet. 


CHAPTER  II 
GREAT  LAKES'  ADMINISTRATION 

THE  administration  of  a  training  camp  such  as 
Great  Lakes  became,  with  its  constantly  chang- 
ing population  of  close  to  50,000  men,  all  of 
whom  had  to  be  clothed,  fed,  housed,  trained  and  taught 
a  variety  of  special  subjects,  was  a  task  so  complicated 
that  it  might  easily  have  -staggered  any  ordinary  ad- 
ministrative body. 

Not  even  in  an  army  cantonment  was  the  mutiplicity 
of  detail  as  great  as  at  a  naval  training  station  such  as 
Great  Lakes  grew  to  be.  In  the  army  cantonments 
nearly  all  the  men  of  a  division  commenced  training  at 
practically  the  same  time,  as  university  students  com- 
mence study  at  the  beginning  of  a  school  year.  And,  to 
all  practical  purposes,  they  progressed  in  the  training 
as  a  body,  finished  training  as  a  body,  and  the  greater 
number  of  them  passed  on,  the  camp  being  refilled  by  a 
new  quota  of  men. 

At  Great  Lakes,  on  the  other  hand,  the  population  was 
one  that  can  be  designated  as  transient.  Drafts  of  men 
left  Great  Lakes  for  the  fighting  ships  every  day  and 
new  men  took  their  places.  Great  Lakes  at  all  times 
represented  men  in  all  the  stages  of  training,  from 
the  rawest  recruits  to  men  ready  to  go  aboard 
ship  to  perform  the  special  as  well  as  general 
duties  for  which  they  were  prepared.  Every  day  men 
found  to  be  particularly  fitted  for  advanced  training 

27 


28     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

were  transferred  from  this  or  that  training  regiment 
to  one  of  the  many  schools,  all  of  which  added  detail  to 
the  work  required  of  the  administrative  departments. 
Never  for  a  moment  during  the  war  period  did  Great 
Lakes  remain  stationary.  And  it  is  with  the  adminis- 
trative body  which  kept  Great  Lakes  running  at  top 
speed  during  the  war  period  that  this  chapter  deals. 

At  the  head  of  the  administrative  body  was  Captain 
W.  A.  Moffett,  to  whose  organizing  ability  and  energy 
the  growth  of  Great  Lakes  was  mainly  due.  As  Com- 
mandant, Captain  Moffett  formulated  the  administra- 
tive policies  of  the  Station,  decided  what  was  or  was  not 
to  be  done,  and  wielded  absolute  command — subject,  of 
course,  to  the  supervision  of  the  Bureau  of  Navigation 
at  Washington. 

Assisting  Captain  Moffett  as  personal  aides  during 
1917  were  Lieutenant  C.  S.  Roberts,  U.  S.  N.,  and  two 
commissioned  officers  of  the  Naval  Reserve  Force — the 
latter  being  men  selected  by  Captain  Moffett  from  busi- 
ness life  as  particularly  fitted  for  the  work  he  needed 
them  to  do.  The  first  of  these  aides  was  Charles  S. 
Dewey,  who  was  enrolled  as  a  junior  grade  lieutenant  in 
April,  1917,  and  was  advanced  to  a  full  lieutenancy 
early  in  1918,  when  he  became  Senior  Aide  to  the  Com- 
mandant. In  July,  1917,  Kenneth  S.  Goodman  was  en- 
rolled in  the  Naval  Reserve  Force  as  a  junior  grade  lieu- 
tenant and  became  the  third  of  Captain  Moffett's  aides, 
also  being  advanced  to  a  full  lieutenancy  in  1918.  At 
one  time  or  another  during  1918  the  following  officers 
of  the  Naval  Reserve  Force  also  acted  as  Aides  to  the 
Commandant:  Lieutenant  J.  H.  McGillan,  Lieutenant 
(j.  g.)  J.  P.  Burlingham,  Ensign  W.  E.  Clow,  Jr.,  En- 
sign J.  J.  Boyle,  Ensign  Joseph  Husband,  Ensign  Morris 


GREAT  LAKES'  ADMINISTRATION         29 

Phinny,  Ensign  L.  P.  Scott,  and  Ensign  E.  A.  Hayes. 
These  aides  all  served,  not  to  impose  their  own  judg- 
ments, but  to  express  or  convey  the  will  of  Captain  Mof- 
f ett  on  many  of  the  matters  that  came  up  daily  for  ad- 
justment. They  prepared  and  sent  out  communications, 
signed  orders,  etc.,  always  affixing  "By  Direction. }> 
Much  of  the  routine  work  required  of  the  Commandant 
by  Navy  regulations  was  thus  taken  off  his  hands. 

THE  EXECUTIVE  OFFICE 

Closely  related  to  the  Office  of  the  Commandant  is 
that  of  the  Executive  Officer.  This  officer  sees  that  the 
policies  promulgated  by  the  Commandant  are  properly 
carried  out.  In  other  words,  if  Great  Lakes  were  a 
great  business  corporation  instead  of  a  naval  training 
station,  the  Commandant  would  hold  the  office  of  presi- 
dent, and  the  Executive  Officer  that  of  general  manager. 

Lieutenant  L.  N.  McNair  was  Executive  Officer  at 
Great  Lakes  when  war  was  declared.  At  that  time,  the 
Executive  Officer  handled  all  the  records  and  orders  re- 
garding enlisted  personnel  and  had  general  supervision 
of  the  drilling  and  instruction  of  recruits,  as  well  as  the 
general  direction  and  operation,  under  Captain  Moffett, 
of  the  entire  station. 

A  few  weeks  after  the  declaration  of  war,  however, 
the  lack  of  officers  resulted  in  Lieutenant  McNair  being 
given  command  of  Camp  Paul  Jones,  leaving  the  paper 
work  and  records  of  the  Executive  Office  in  charge  of 
Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  C.  K.  Muir,  a  retired  officer  who  had 
been  ordered  to  the  Station  the  latter  part  of  April. 
And  for  the  time  being  the  actual  functions  of  Execu- 
tive Officer  were  assumed  by  Captain  Moffett  personally. 

In  June,  1917,  Commander  W.  N.  McMunn,  National 


30     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

Naval  Volunteers,  was  assigned  to  duty  as  Executive 
Officer.  In  July,  Lieutenant  Commander  C.  H.  Fischer, 
U.  S.  N.  (Retired)  was  ordered  to  Great  Lakes  and  re- 
lieved Commander  McMunn  as  Executive  Officer,  the 
latter  having  had  this  duty  in  addition  to  his  duties  as 
Assistant  Commandant  of  the  Ninth,  Tenth  and  Elev- 
enth Naval  Districts.  Under  Lieutenant  Commander 
Fischer  the  Executive  Office  resumed  its  regular  func- 
tions. 

Late  in  December,  1917,  Lieutenant  Commander 
Fischer  was  found  not  physically  fit  for  further  active 
service  by  a  board  of  medical  survey  and  was  ordered 
home  by  the  Navy  Department.  In  the  meantime  Lieu- 
tenant Commander,  A.  C.  Wilhelm,  U.  S.  N.  (Retired) 
had  assumed  the  duties  of  Drill  Officer,  which  relieved 
the  Executive  Officer  of  a  large  portion  of  his  duties  in 
regard  to  the  quartering,  training  and  instruction  of  re- 
cruits. 

At  the  beginning  of  1918  Lieutenant  C.  S.  Roberts 
was  assigned  to  duty  as  Executive  Officer,  and  a  reor- 
ganization was  effected  which  divided  the  previous  du- 
ties of  the  Executive  Office  among  three  newly  created 
departments — the  Drill  Office,  Provost  Marshal's  Of- 
fice, and  the  Detail  Office.  The  Executive  Officer,  be- 
ing thus  relieved  from  these  routine  duties,  was  able  to 
give  more  time  to  the  development  of  the  Station  as  a 
whole  and  to  the  coordination  of  the  different  depart- 
ments. 

During  1917  the  officers  assisting  the  Executive  Of- 
ficer were  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  R.  S.  Robertson,  Jr.,  and 
Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  B.  C.  Muir.  The  officers  who  assisted 
the  Executive  Officer  at  different  periods  during  1918 
were  Lieutenant  Ralph  M.  Jaeger,  Lieutenant  S.  R. 


GREAT  LAKES'  ADMINISTRATION          31 

Canine,  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  A.  T.  Carton,  and  Ensign 
Benny  Johnson. 

THE  DETAIL  OFFICE 

When  the  Detail  Office  was  created,  January  i,  1918, 
the  offices  which  came  under  the  supervision  of  the  De- 
tail Officer,  Lieutenant  Walter  P.  Jost,  consisted  of  the 
Station  Record  Office,  the  Central  Office  and  the  Re- 
ceiving Ship  Record  Office.  By  March,  1918,  however, 
the  demands  received  from  the  various  Receiving  Ships 
along  the  eastern  seaboard  had  become  so  great  that  it 
was  necessary  to  create  still  another  office,  which  was 
called  the  Draft  Department.  And  about  the  same  time 
the  Detail  Officer  assumed  supervision  of  what  had  been 
known  as  the  Insurance  Section.  This  was  an  office 
organized  in  December,  1917,  in  order  to  comply  with 
the  Bureau  of  Navigation's  instructions  to  have  every 
man  take  out  insurance  and  make  a  voluntary  allotment, 
if  he  had  any  dependents.  The  Insurance  Section  was 
later  given  the  additional  duty  of  taking-up-for-pay  all 
the  newly  enlisted  men  arriving  on  the  Station,  and  its 
name  was  changed  to  that  of  Take-Up  Section. 

The  routine  business  handled  by  the  Detail  Office  was 
as  follows:  Custody  of  all  service  records  of  enlisted 
personnel  on  the  Station;  making  all  changes  in  rating 
of  men  under  training  and  attached  to  the  Receiving 
Ship ;  preparing  paper  and  forwarding  same  for  all  out- 
going drafts;  assignment  to  duty  of  men  on  Receiving 
Ship ;  the  granting  of  liberty  and  leave  of  absence  to  the 
men  attached  to  the  Receiving  Ship ;  the  granting  of  all 
special  money  requisitions  of  the  enlisted  personnel  on 
the  Station;  the  preparation  of  the  muster  rolls  by  or- 
ganization of  all  the  enlisted  personnel  on  the  Station; 


32     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

the  making  of  all  entries  in  service  records  for  the  en- 
listed personnel;  keeping  record  of  location  and  duties 
of  all  the  enlisted  men  attached  to  the  Station ;  prepara- 
tion of  all  orders  to  the  paymaster  regarding  changes  of 
pay  and  the  granting  of  subsistence  to  men  attached  to 
the  Station ;  preparing  orders  for  all  men  detached  tem- 
porarily from  the  Station;  taking  final  action  on  all  re- 
quests for  assignment  to  duty,  transfer  and  special  in- 
structions; preparation  of  all  correspondence  pertaining 
to  health  records,  service  records  and  pay  accounts  of 
the  enlisted  personnel  for  the  Commandant's  signature ; 
taking  up  for  pay  all  newly  enlisted  men  arriving  on  the 
Station;  the  routing  and  distribution  of  all  correspon- 
dence on  the  Station. 

During  the  summer  months  of  1918  the  population  of 
Great  Lakes  steadily  mounted  toward  the  50,000  mark, 
and  with  the  increase  in  population  the  forces  of  the 
Detail  Office  had  likewise  to  be  increased.  By  the  end 
of  September  the  forces  working  under  the  supervision 
of  the  Detail  Officer  consisted  of  six  commissioned  of- 
ficers, eight  chief  petty  officers,  and  three  hundred  en- 
listed men.  Ensign  H.  E.  LaMertha  was  Assistant  De- 
tail Officer  during  May  and  June,  1918.  Ensign  Earl 
R.  Britt  relieved  Ensign  LaMertha.  Other  officers  at- 
tached to  the  Detail  Office  during  1918  were  Ensign 
John  Lindsay,  Ensign  H.  E.  Neal,  Ensign  T.  A.  Prov- 
ence, Ensign  John  Shillito,  Lieutenant  H.  C.  Ridgley, 
Ensign  J.  Long,  Ensign  J.  B.  Morriss,  Ensign  S.  V. 
Hayward,  Ensign  Leon  Foley,  and  Ensign  F.  L. 
Schlagle. 

During  June,  July,  August  and  September,  1918,  the 
forces  of  the  Detail  Office  often  worked  until  the  early 
hours  of  the  morning  to  shove  off  drafts  of  men  re- 


GREAT  LAKES'  ADMINISTRATION         33 

quested  by  the  Bureau  of  Navigation  on  short  notice. 
The  splendid  spirit  in  which  these  men  performed  their 
duties  was  all  that  kept  the  Detail  Office  from  being 
swamped. 

Regular  quotas  of  men  demanded  of  Great  Lakes  by 
the  Bureau  of  Navigation  during  the  summer  of  1918 
were  as  follows : 

125  Seamen  to  Norfolk,  Va.,  every  Tuesday. 

375  Firemen  to  Norfolk,  Va.,  every  Tuesday; 

500  Firemen  to  Norfolk,  Va.,  every  Thursday. 

72  Seamen  to  Receiving  Ship,  New  York,  three  times  a 
week. 

20  Seamen  Guards  to  Curtis  Aeroplane  &  Motor  Corp., 
Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  once  a  month. 

75  Radio  Electricians  to  Harvard  University  each 
week. 

10  men  to  Sub-Chaser  class,  Columbia  University, 
every  two  weeks. 

80  Radio  Electricians  to  Dunwoody  Institute,  Minne- 
apolis, once  a  week. 

25  Firemen   to   Fuel   Oil   School,   Philadelphia,   every 

month. 

12  Men  to  Sub-Listeners'  School,  Pelham  Bay,  N.  Y., 
every  third  week. 

26  Machinists'  Mates  (aviation)  to  Naval  Air  Station, 

Pensacola,  Florida,  once  a  week. 
12  Men  to  sub-Listeners'  School,  Pelham  Bay,  N.  Y., 

every  two  weeks. 

28  Signalmen  to  Hampton  Roads,  Va.,  every  week. 
50  Quartermasters  to  Naval  Base,  Norfolk,  Va.,  every 

three  weeks. 
100  Seamen  Gunners  to  Newport,  R.  L,  once  a  month. 

In  addition  to  the  above  drafts,  the  Bureau  of  Naviga- 
tion was  constantly  demanding,  during  1918,  special 
quotas  of  men  of  every  conceivable  branch  of  the  Navy, 


34     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

and  these  demands,  one  and  all,  were  met.  The  Navy 
had  to  have  this,  the  Navy  had  to  have  that;  and  be- 
cause Great  Lakes  was  the  Station  that  could  best  pro- 
vide the  this  and  the  that  in  man-power,  Great  Lakes 
was  called  upon. 

The  great  naval  guns  that  were  used  in  France  in  the 
final  stage  of  the  war  were  manned  by  crews  trained  at 
Great  Lakes. 

THE   DRILL    OFFICE 

The  establishment  of  the  Drill  Office  as  an  independent 
department  occurred  January  I,  1918,  with  Lieutenant 
Commander  A.  C.  Wilhelm,  U.  S.  N.  (Retired)  as  its 
head.  Lieutenant-Commander  Wilhelm,  as  Tactical 
Brigade  Commander,  had  military  jurisdiction  over  the 
Aviation  School,  the  Hospital  Corps  Training  School, 
the  Radio  School,  and  the  forces  of  the  Public  Works 
'Department,  and  absolute  jurisdiction  over  all  the  other 
regiments  and  schools. 

The  duties  of  the  Drill  Office  included:  the  instruc- 
tion, drill  and  discipline  of  all  men  under  training;  the 
routine  and  muster  of  all  organizations  of  men  under 
training;  the  cleanliness  of  buildings  and  grounds  oc- 
cupied by  men  under  training;  the  bag  inspection  of  men 
under  training;  the  granting  of  liberty  and  leave  to  the 
men  under  training;  the  preparing  of  men  for  drafts; 
the  assignment  of  recruits  received  from  Incoming  De- 
tention to  training  regiments  and  schools;  the  assign- 
ment of  men  received  from  Hospital  to  companies;  the 
transfer  of  men  between  regiments  and  to  schools;  the 
selection  of  men  for  special  drafts;  the  organization  of 
bands ;  the  supervision  of  special  instruction ;  the  super- 
vision of  records  of  the  instruction  received  by  each  com- 


GREAT  LAKES'  ADMINISTRATION         35 

pany ;  the  supplying  of  men  for  guards,  working  parties, 
and  special  details;  the  handling  of  funeral  arrange- 
ments, firing  parties,  etc. ;  the  arrangement  of  train 
schedules  for  liberty  parties;  the  handling  of  furlough 
fare  certificates;  the  quartering  of  all  men  on  the  Sta- 
tion: the  handling  of  honors  rendered  visiting  officers; 
and  the  arrangements  for  the  regular  weekly  and  spe- 
cial reviews. 

Once  each  week  regimental  commanders  gathered  in 
the  Drill  Office  to  confer  with  Lieutenant-Commander 
Wilhelm  and  solve  the  many  problems  with  which  they 
were  confronted. 

Lieutenant  H.  A.  Spanagal  was  Assistant  Drill  Of- 
ficer early  in  1918.  He  was  succeeded  by  Lieutenant 
(j.  g.)  A.  Somers. 

THE   PROVOST    MARSHAL'S   OFFICE 

The  Provost  Marshal's  Office  was  something  new  in 
the  Navy,  but  the  work  it  accomplished  proved  it  to  be 
an  absolute  necessity  on  a  Station  such  as  Great  Lakes 
became,  where  thousands  of  recruits,  the  majority  of 
them  absolute  strangers  to  military  discipline,  were 
thrown  together. 

The  duties  of  the  Provost  Marshal  were  numerous. 
He  had  charge  of  the  Seaman  Guard,  all  the  gates,  the 
brigs,  and  the  "Ship  Jumpers'  Camp."  He  had  charge 
of  the  handling  of  all  prisoners,  including  deserters  and 
General  Courts-Martial  prisoners  and  their  transfer  to 
eastern  prisons  and  disciplinary  barracks.  He  made  ar- 
rangements for  Mast,  for  the  bringing  of  offenders 
thereto,  and  arranged  the  Mast  report  and  the  record 
of  punishments  awarded.  He  declared  deserters,  and 
acted  in  conjunction  with  the  different  agencies  instru- 


36 

mental  in  the  capture  of  such  deserters.  And  he  had 
jurisdiction  over  the  Station's  fire  department,  the  men 
detailed  for  Officer-of-the-Day  duties,  and  the  Post 
Quartermaster,  the  duties  of  the  latter  consisting  prin- 
cipally of  keeping  the  records  of  the  7000  tents,  24,000 
cots,  and  the  thousands  of  ponchos  with  which  the  Sta- 
tion was  equipped. 

The  Seaman  Guard  consisted  of  about  three  hundred 
picked  men  from  the  apprentice  seamen  companies  of 
the  very  best  caliber  obtainable.  These  men  did  guard 
duty  on  the  Station,  acted  as  guards  on  trains  and  elec- 
tric cars  during  rush  hours,  and  handled  traffic  on  the 
Station  on  visiting  days  or  on  other  days  when  the 
crowds  made  it  necessary.  During  the  summer  of  1918 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  people  visited  Great  Lakes  on 
Review  days.  The  throngs  of  visitors  and  the  thou- 
sands of  automobiles  were  handled  by  the  Seaman  Guard 
without  a  single  accident.  There  were  twelve  men  and 
one  petty  officer  detailed  to  each  of  Great  Lakes'  four 
gates.  The  duty  of  these  gatekeepers  was  the  handling 
of  liberty  parties,  the  overhauling  of  all  packages 
brought  on  to  or  taken  away  from  the  Station,  and  the 
controlling  of  all  vehicle  traffic  through  the  gates. 

The  fire  department  at  Great  Lakes  consisted  of  three 
motor-driven  fire  engines,  one  hook-and-ladder  truck, 
and  a  number  of  chemical  wagons  and  hose  reels.  Each 
regimental  unit  had  its  own  chemical  wagons  and  hose 
reels.  The  fire  engines  and  hook-and-ladder  truck  were 
for  general  use  and  were  manned  by  experienced  fire- 
fighters— men  who,  before  their  enlistment  in  the  Navy, 
had  been  members  of  metropolitan  fire  departments. 

Four  Chief  Petty  Officers  were  detailed  for  Officer- 
of-the-Day  duties,  these  men  standing  their  watches  in 


GREAT  LAKES'  ADMINISTRATION         37 

turn.  In  addition,  they  supervised  the  upkeep  of  the 
brick  buildings  constituting  the  Main  Station.  The  Of- 
ficer-of-the-Day  had  to  be  ready  at  all  times  to  receive 
telephone  calls,  messages  and  reports,  transmit  them  to 
the  proper  authorities,  and  take  such  action  as  he  deemed 
advisable  on  any  situation  with  which  he  was  con- 
fronted. He  was  also  responsible  for  the  proper  entries 
being  made  in  the  deck-log. 

Summary  Court-martial,  or  "Mast,"  was  held  twice 
a  week,  and  the  number  of  men  on  report  averaged  about 
forty  for  each  Mast.  This  was  a  remarkably  low  per- 
centage of  petty  infringements  of  discipline,  consider- 
ing the  fact  that  during  the  latter  months  of  the  war  the 
number  of  men  at  Great  Lakes  hovered  around  the 
45,000  mark. 

The  Provost  Marshal  was  Lieutenant  Martin  Frit- 
man,  U.  S.  N.  The  Assistant  Provost  Marshal  was 
Gunner  Walter  McGuire. 

OFFICE  OF   COURTS   AND    BOARDS 

Like  many  other  departments  at  Great  Lakes,  the 
office  of  Courts  and  Boards  resulted  from  the  necessity 
of  coordinating  and  systematizing  the  constantly  in- 
creasing work  involved  in  the  Station's  expansion  to  a 
war-time  footing. 

This  office  was  established  immediately  after  the  dec- 
laration of  war,  on  the  arrival  at  Great  Lakes  of  Lieu- 
tenant-Commander J.  M.  Grimes,  U.  S.  N.  (Retired). 
Following  the  arrival  of  Lieutenant-Commander 
Grimes,  and  his  appointment  as  President  of  a  General 
Court-martial,  Senior  Member  of  Summary  Courts- 
martial,  Deck  Court  Officer,  and  President  of  the  Ex- 
amining Board,  court-martial  work  entered  upon  a  new 


38     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

phase.  The  office  was  organized  under  precepts  from 
the  Secretary  of  the  Navy.  There  was  no  sudden  en- 
forcement of  every  harsh  war-time  regulation  against 
recruits  who  committed  petty  offenses,  but  the  fact  that 
the  United  States  was  at  war  and  that  infractions  of 
naval  discipline  would  be  punished  according  to  war- 
time standards  was  gradually  impressed  upon  the  men 
at  Great  Lakes. 

Deck  Courts,  which  had  been  the  usual  tribunal  for 
the  trial  of  minor  offenses,  were  gradually  replaced  by 
Summary  Courts,  and  criminal  offenses  and  serious 
breaches  of  discipline  were  tried  by  General  Courts- 
martial. 

The  office  of  Recorder  of  the  Summary  Court  was 
responsible  for  the  carrying  out  of  the  many  duties  con- 
nected with  the  prosecution  of  cases  against  offenders. 
The  Summary  Court  Recorder  had  to  make  all  prelim- 
inary preparation  for  the  trials,  and  during  trials  had 
charge  of  the  active  prosecution  of  the  accused,  al- 
though in  case  the  accused  was  not  represented  by 
counsel,  he  was  obliged  to  bring  out  such  facts 
by  witness  as  would  constitute  a  defense.  He  was 
also  responsible  for  the  perfection  of  a  proper  rec- 
ord of  proceedings,  which  was  finally  forwarded 
to  the  Judge  Advocate  General  of  the  Navy  De- 
partment. Lieutenant  William  C.  Carpenter  was 
the  first  recorder  of  the  Summary  Court  following  the 
declaration  of  war.  In  July,  1917,  he  was  succeeded  by 
Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Robert  L.  Grinnell,  who,  in  January, 
1918,  was  also  ordered  to  act  as  Judge  Advocate  of 
General  Courts-martial.  On  May  13,  1918,  Lieutenant 
Andrew  P.  Haynes,  U.  S.  N.,  succeeded  Lieutenant 
Grinnell  as  Recorder  of  the  Summary  Court.  He  ad- 


GREAT  LAKES'  ADMINISTRATION          39 

ministered  the  duties  of  this  office  until  his  death  from 
influenza  in  September,  1918.  Ensign  John  F.  Hast- 
ings, of  the  Naval  Reserve  Force,  then  became  Recorder 
of  the  Summary  Court. 

The  examining  of  enlisted  men  for  advanced  ratings 
was  one  of  the  main  activities  of  the  Office  of  Courts 
and  Boards.  By  far  the  heaviest  portion  of  this  work 
consisted  of  the  examination  of  candidates  for  advance- 
ment in  the  petty  officer  ratings,  although  during  1917 
this  office  supervised  the  examinations  of  some  sixty- 
five  candidates  for  the  rank  of  ensign.  Also,  about 
sixty  applications  for  examination  in  proficiency  in  the 
reading,  writing  and  speaking  of  foreign  languages  were 
received  by  this  office.  A  considerable  number  of  these 
men  passed  the  examinations  and  were  sent  away  on 
foreign  duty.  During  the  early  part  of  1918  fifty  men 
were  examined  to  determine  eligibility  for  entrance  to 
the  Naval  Academy  at  Annapolis,  and  several  groups 
were  given  the  academic  portion  of  the  entrance  exam- 
ination. 

During  the  first  few  months  of  the  war  the  examina- 
tions for  petty  officer  ratings  averaged  not  more  than 
fifty  per  month.  Then  the  rate  began  to  increase  each 
month  until,  in  September,  1918,  the  number  of  exam- 
inations given  totaled  914.  Of  this  number  of  men 
examined,  803  succeeded  in  passing.  During  the  last 
seven  months  of  the  war  3802  men  passed  examinations 
at  Great  Lakes  for  petty  officer  ratings. 

The  examining  Board  as  constituted  during  the  sum- 
mer of  1918  consisted  of  Lieutenant-Commander  J.  M. 
Grimes,  Senior  Member;  Lieutenant  R.  L.  Grinnell, 
Recorder;  and  the  following  members — Lieutenant 
John  Ronan,  Lieutenant  B.  J.  Hinman,  Jr.,  Ensign  R. 


40     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

V.  Flory,  Pay  Clerk  L.  H.  Ludwig,  and  Carpoiter  J.  E. 
Willis. 

THE   ORDNANCE    DEPARTMENT 

Upon  the  declaration  of  war,  the  Ordnance  Depart- 
ment was  equipped  to  provide  ordnance  material  for  ap- 
proximately one  thousand  men,  but  preparations  had 
been  made  and  a  request  sent  to  the  Bureau  of  Ord- 
nance to  increase  equipment  and  ordnance  material  of 
various  descriptions  to  provide  for  the  training  of  about 
15,000  men. 

When  war  was  declared  all  the  3-inch,  6-pounder  and 
i -pounder  guns  available  at  Great  Lakes  were  ordered 
shipped  to  the  eastern  coast  to  be  used  for  the  arming 
of  merchant  vessels.  However,  when  the  Naval  Mili- 
tia Organizations  of  the  Ninth,  Tenth  and  Eleventh  Na- 
val Districts  were  mobilized,  a  considerable  amount  of 
ordnance  material  was  left  in  the  armories  located  in 
the  various  states.  Every  effort  was  made  to  obtain 
this  ordnance  material,  and  as  a  result  Great  Lakes  was 
quickly  provided  with  a  couple  of  thousand  additional 
rifles  and  drill  guns,  a  number  of  pistols,  and  several 
3-inch  field  pieces.  In  the  meantime  the  Bureau  of  Ord- 
nance sent  to  Great  Lakes  about  10,000  rifles  of  the 
older  models,  1000  Springfield  rifles,  and  1000  drill  rifles 
patterned  after  the  Springfield  model.  This  brought  the 
grand  total  to  about  16,000  rifles  and  400  pistols,  with 
all  the  necessary  equipment. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  Great  Lakes  had  only  one 
armory,  and  that  was  partly  used  by  the  Medical  De- 
partment as  a  sick  bay.  Just  before  the  war  closed,  the 
Station  had  sixteen  regimental  armories  equipped  in  all 
respects  for  properly  taking  care  of  all  ordnance  ma- 


GREAT  LAKES'  ADMINISTRATION         41 

terial.  These  armories  were  also  fitted  up  for  the  re- 
pairing of  ordnance  material. 

The  facilities  for  carrying  on  small  arm  target  prac- 
tice prior  to  the  war  consisted  of  three  Ellis  type,  self- 
scoring  targets  located  on  the  harbor  breakwater.  Im- 
mediately steps  were  taken  to  construct  a  4Otarget 
small  arms  range.  This  range  was  put  into  commission 
the  early  part  of  July,  1917,  and  was  constantly  in  use 
from  that  time  on.  In  the  autumn  of  1917  the  Navy 
Department  acquired  the  Illinois  State  Target  Range 
known  as  Camp  Logan,  about  eighteen  miles  distant 
from  Great  Lakes,  and  during  1918  thousands  of  men 
from  Great  Lakes  were  given  small  arms  practice  there.. 
The  Camp  Logan  range  was  equipped  with  two  hundred 
targets. 

When  the  Gunners'  Mates  and  Armed  Guard  schools 
were  established  in  August,  1917,  the  facilities  for 
carrying  out  the  prescribed  courses  of  training  were 
hardly  adequate.  Immediate  steps  were  taken  to  obtain 
the  required  ordnance  material,  which  included  guns, 
mines,  torpedoes  and  machine  guns  of  various  kinds. 
None  of  the  warships  making  up  the  Great  Lakes'  Train- 
ing Squadron  mounted  guns  of  the  type  used  to  arm  the 
merchant  marine.  Therefore  a  battery  of  3-inch,  50- 
caliber  guns  was  mounted  in  a  gun  shed  on  the  lake 
shore,  and  submarine  targets  were  towed  at  varying  dis- 
tances out  into  the  lake  for  the  men  to  shoot  at.  The 
students  of  the  Armed  Guard  School  practiced  firing 
with  these  guns  both  day  and  night  with  excellent  re- 
sults. The  gun  shed  was  provided  with  two  great 
searchlights  for  night  work. 

During  the  winter  of  1917-18,  approximately  1000 
men  attached  to  the  Public  Works  Department  were  put 


42     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

through  an  intensive  course  of  instruction  in  Ordnance 
and  Gunnery  in  order  to  fit  them  for  duty  with  the  large 
battery  of  1 4-inch  naval  guns  that  was  later  used  so  ef- 
fectively on  the  western  front  in  France. 

Among  the  thousands  of  men  who  were  trained  at 
Great  Lakes  it  was  only  natural  that  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  inventors  should  have  declared  themselves.  One 
of  the  duties  of  the  Ordnance  Department  was  to  inves- 
tigate and  report  on  all  inventions  submitted  to  the  Com- 
mandant. All  of  the  following  inventions  were  investi- 
gated, given  careful  consideration,  and  forwarded  to 
the  Navy  Consulting  Board  for  further  investigation 
and  consideration :  A  submarine  lamp  for  diving  pur- 
poses; a  new  type  of  diving  apparatus;  a  method  of  using 
poison  gas  in  sea  warfare;  a  double-pointed  projectile; 
an  attachment  that  would  allow  a  diver  to  be  taken 
aboard  while  a  submarine  was  under  water ;  a  new  type 
of  range-finder  attachment  for  small  arms  and  for 
larger  caliber  guns  and  telescopes;  a  new  type  of  sub- 
marine life  preserver;  a  new  type  of  torpedo  net  to  be 
carried  by  merchant  ships ;  a  new  type  of  automatic  re- 
leasing hook  for  life  boats ;  a  shield  for  preventing  sub- 
marine attacks;  a  gasoline  gun;  a  monocular  range 
finder;  a  two-piece  projectile;  a  salvaging  apparatus  for 
merchant  vessels ;  a  diamond  microscope ;  a  mine-laying 
device  for  battle  tanks;  a  depth  bomb  and  magnetically 
controlled  torpedo;  a  steel  aeroplane  propeller;  a  relay 
projectile  containing  three  projectiles  in  one  and  claimed 
to  travel  one  hundred  miles ;  an  automatic  boat-releasing 
hook;  a  non-ricochetting  shell;  a  device  for  sealing 
hatches  on  merchant  vessels  after  being  torpedoed;  a 
smoke  and  steam  screen  for  aircraft  defense  for  large 


GREAT  LAKES'  ADMINISTRATION         43 

cities  like  London,  Paris  and  New  York;  a  submarine 
trailer;  an  anti-aircraft  projectile  with  chain  attached; 
and  a  small  arms  automatic  distance  indicator. 

THE  BOATSWAINS'  DEPARTMENT 

The  rigging  lofts,  boat  house,  inner  and  outer  har- 
bor basins,  and  all  floating  craft,  such  as  steamers,  mo- 
tor boats,  cutters,  sailing  launches  and  whaleboats,  came 
directly  under  the  supervision  of  this  department,  of 
which  Lieutenant  W.  C.  Carpenter  was  the  head. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  war  the  Station  had  just  one 
rigging  loft,  located  in  the  top  of  the  Main  Instruction 
Building.  The  number  of  rigging  lofts  constantly  in- 
creased, however,  as  each  of  the  regimental  units  con- 
structed for  general  training  purposes  was  provided 
with  one  for  instruction  purposes. 

Tackles  and  purchases  of  all  descriptions,  wire  pen- 
nants, heavy  straps  for  the  handling  of  weights,  and 
such  rigging  as  was  required  on  the  Station  were  manu- 
factured in  the  rigging  loft  and  handled  by  the  rigging 
crew  without  difficulty. 

From  September  i,  1917,  to  October  31,  1918,  the 
forces  of  the  rigging  loft  manufactured  246,105  clews, 
193,309  hammock  lashings,  242,361  foot  lashings,  and 
79,412  jackstays,  thus  providing  the  Station  with  an 
abundance  of  these  necessary  articles. 

During  the  winter  months,  the  season  of  closed  navi- 
gation on  the  Great  Lakes,  there  was  no  opportunity  for 
boat  instruction  in  the  water.  During  the  greater  part 
of  1917  and  1918,  however,  the  different  schools  on  the 
Station  used  the  boats  every  day,  except  when  a  gale 
was  blowing,  for  teaching  the  rudiments  of  small-boat 


44     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

handling.  During  the  winter  months  sailing  launches 
and  cutters,  properly  rigged,  were  set  up  in  the  instruc- 
tion buildings  for  study. 

THE   ATHLETIC    OFFICE 

Prior  to  the  declaration  of  war  the  Athletic  Associa- 
tion at  Great  Lakes  was  a  small  organization.  At  that 
time  the  Navy  Department  allowed  Great  Lakes  only 
$400  a  year  for  athletics,  and  the  Association's  only 
other  sources  of  income  were  the  dues  from  officers  and 
men,  along  with  a  little  revenue  from  the  operation  of 
a  billiard  room  and  bowling  alleys  in  the  basement  of  the 
Instruction  Building. 

Therefore  one  of  the  first  problems  that  had  to  be 
solved  by  the  Athletic  Officer,  Commander  John  B. 
Kaufman,  Medical  Corps,  U.  S.  N.  (at  that  time  a  Lieu- 
tenant-Commander) was  the  raising  of  funds  to  carry 
on  the  work  on  a  vast  scale.  The  nest-egg  for  this  fund 
was  obtained  in  a  rather  unusual  way.  The  Chicago 
Telephone  Company  had  been  called  upon  to  lay  a  spe- 
cial telephone  cable  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  rapidly 
growing  Station.  But  practically  all  the  workmen  on 
this  job  were  aliens  and  for  this  reason  could  not  be 
permitted  on  the  Station.  The  Athletic  Officer  learned 
of  the  difficulty  and  made  a  proposition  to  the  telephone 
company  to  do  the  job  with  sailor  labor,  providing  the 
said  company  would  pay  the  Athletic  Association  the 
same  amount  it  would  have  had  to  pay  its  workmen. 
The  company  agreed  and  the  Athletic  Officer  called  for 
volunteers.  As  a  result  the  job  was  done  in  less  than 
five  days  and  the  athletic  fund  received  five  hundred 
dollars. 

With  the  above  mentioned  five  hundred  dollars  as  a 


GREAT  LAKES'  ADMINISTRATION         45 

beginning  the  Athletic  Officer  built  up  a  fund  which 
made  possible  the  buying  of  thousands  of  dollars'  worth 
of  athletic  gear,  the  construction  of  indoor  running 
tracks,  regimental  athletic  fields  and  the  like.  Of  the 
thousands  of  dollars  spent  by  the  Athletic  Officer  dur- 
ing the  war  period  only  ten  thousand  dollars  was  al- 
loted  by  the  Navy  Department.  The  great  bulk  of  the 
money  was  obtained  through  such  activities  as  the  Main 
Laundry,  the  Ship's  Stores,  and  the  barber,  tailor  and 
shoe  shops. 

And  when  the  armistice  was  signed,  the  Athletic  As- 
sociation had  in  the  neighborhood  of  one  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  to  its  credit,  including  forty  thousand  dol- 
lars' worth  of  liberty  bonds  purchased  by  it  to  help  Great 
Lakes  go  "over  the  top"  in  the  Liberty  Loan  drives. 

In  developing  the  Athletic  Association  into  an  organi- 
zation adequate  to  provide  clean,  healthful  sports  for 
thousands  upon  thousands  of  young  sailors,  the  Athletic 
Officer  gathered  around  him  many  of  the  best  athletes  in 
the  Middle  West.  These  men  were  placed  in  charge  of 
departments,  or  used  as  instructors  to  stimulate  interest 
in  the  different  sports,  which  consisted,  in  the  main,  of 
baseball,  football,  basket  ball,  boxing,  swimming,  wrest- 
ling, and  field  and  track  events. 

Particular  care  was  exercised  in  the  selection  of  swim- 
ming instructors,  as  swimming  was  a  part  of  the  train- 
ing at  Great  Lakes,  as  well  as  a  sport. 

Boxing  and  wrestling  had  always  been  fostered  at 
Great  Lakes.  With  the  war-time  growth  of  the  Station, 
boxing  and  wrestling  became  one  of  the  most  wide- 
spread and  popular  branches  of  the  sports.  Profes- 
sional boxers  and  wrestlers  were  enrolled  in  the  Naval 
Reserve  Force  and  detailed  to  the  different  regiments  as 


46     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

instructors,  with  the  idea  of  giving  all  the  men  who  so 
desired  an  opportunity  to  become  proficient.  Regular 
boxing  and  wrestling  contests  were  held,  both  intra-  and 
inter-regimental,  but  all  such  bouts  were  limited  to  men 
who  were  strictly  amateurs. 

In  order  to  stimulate  competition  various  cups  were 
offered,  the  most  important  of  these  being  the  General 
Athletic  Efficiency  Cup,  awarded  to  the  regiment  which 
made  the  best  showing  each  month;  the  inter-regimental 
baseball,  football  and  basketball  championship  cups; 
and  the  inter-regimental  boxing  and  wrestling  champion- 
ship cups. 

In  addition  to  the  first  and  second  teams  representing 
Great  Lakes  in  baseball,  football  and  basketball,  each 
regiment  and  school  was  represented  by  a  team  in  these 
three  sports,  and  games  were  played  every  day  during 
the  respective  seasons. 

The  record  of  Great  Lakes'  achievement  in  athletics 
during  the  war  will  be  given  in  a  special  chapter. 

The  activities  of  the  Athletic  Association  during  the 
war  were  many  and  various.  In  addition  to  the  organi- 
zation of  Station  and  regimental  athletics,  this  depart- 
ment operated  the  shoe  shops,  barber  shops  and  tailor 
shops;  directed  all  the  amusements,  such  as  vaudeville 
shows  and  motion  pictures;  supervised  general  pub- 
licity and  the  publishing  of  the  Station's  magazine,  and 
still  found  time  to  direct  several  minor  activities. 

The  barber  shops  were  taken  over  from  civilian  con- 
trol in  July,  1917,  and  a  large  number  of  barbers  were 
enrolled  in  the  Naval  Reserve  Force.  During  the  sum- 
mer of  1918  there  were  twenty-five  well-equipped  barber 
shops  at  Great  Lakes,  and  two  hundred  and  fifty  barbers. 

The  shoe  and  tailoring  shops  were  also  taken  over 


GREAT  LAKES'  ADMINISTRATION         47 

by  the  Athletic  Department.  Two  large,  thoroughly- 
equipped  shoe  shops  were  established,  with  a  force  of 
seventy-five  cobblers  capable  of  turning  out,  half  soling 
and  heeling,  eight  hundred  and  fifty  pairs  of  shoes  per 
day.  The  number  of  tailoring  shops  grew  from  one 
small  room  to  twelve  well-equipped  shops,  with  a  force 
of  seventy  men.  The  prices  charged  by  the  shoe  and 
tailoring  shops  were  less  by  half  than  those  of  civilian 
shops. 

Prior  to  the  war  the  only  entertainment  afforded  on 
the  Station  were  occasional  performances  given  by  the- 
atrical clubs  located  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Great 
Lakes.  Step  by  step  the  entertainment  problem  was 
overcome.  Moving  picture  outfits  were  obtained  and 
reel  plays  and  other  views  were  shown  practically  every 
night  at  several  different  places.  During  the  early  sum- 
mer of  1918  a  huge  stage  was  erected  in  one  of  the  drill 
halls  in  Camp  Perry.  On  this  stage,  the  best  vaude- 
ville talent  which  visited  Chicago  performed  for  the 
sailors.  Several  three-act  plays  were  also  presented. 
A  huge  open-air  amphitheatre  was  built  in  the  ravine 
separating  Camps  Decatur  and  Farragut  and  vaudeville 
shows  were  given  in  it  twice  a  week  for  the  entertain- 
ment of  the  men  in  Incoming  Detention. 

No  admission  was  charged  for  any  entertainment, 
theatrical  or  athletic,  given  on  the  Station.  This  ap- 
plied not  only  to  the  men  in  the  service  but  to  any  of 
their  friends  who  happened  to  be  on  the  Station. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE   SUPPLY   DISBURSING   DEPARTMENTS 

PRIOR  to  the  declaration  of  war  the  Supply  De- 
partment at  Great  Lakes  had  only  two  officers — 
Lieutenant  H.  B.  Worden,  who  was  the  officer  in 
charge,  and  a  pay  clerk.  These  officers  had  as  their 
assistants  three  civil  service  clerks  and  four  civilian 
laborers.  The  business  of  the  department  was  carried 
on  in  a  two-story  brick  building,  a  large  part  of  which 
was  taken  up  by  office  space. 

To  keep  pace  with  the  ever  increasing  rush  of  recruits, 
the  Supply  Department  had  to  be  expanded  rapidly. 
New  systems  of  handling  the  business  had  to  be  de- 
veloped ;  additional  storehouse  and  office  space  had  to  be 
acquired;  its  complement  of  officers  and  men  had  to  be 
enlarged. 

One  of  the  greatest  difficulties  that  had  to  be  met  and 
overcome  had  to  do  with  the  lack  of  trained  help.  At 
the  outset  of  the  war  it  was,  of  course,  impossible  to  get 
men  of  naval  training  and  naval  experience  to  handle 
the  supply  work.  In  this  department,  as  in  others,  the 
difficulty  was  overcome  by  going  into  the  commercial 
world  and  enrolling  men  in  the  Naval  Reserve  force  for 
such  duty.  Care  was  exercised  in  picking  these  men, 
and  for  the  most  part  they  were  chosen  from  the  large 
business  houses  and  railroad  offices  in  and  near  Chicago, 
and  were  men  who  had  had  considerable  experience  in 

48 


SUPPLY  DISBURSING  DEPARTMENTS      49 

lines  that  particularly  fitted  them  for  Supply  Depart- 
ment work. 

The  Supply  Department,  in  particular,  encountered 
difficulties  during  the  early  days  of  the  war  that  were 
many  and  serious.  With  inadequate,  untrained  help, 
and  practically  no  stowage  space,  this  department  had  to 
supply  the  needs  of  a  station  that  was  expanding  by 
leaps  and  bounds.  Not  only  food,  clothing,  blankets 
and  the  like  were  demanded  of  the  Supply  Department 
for  the  thousands  of  recruits,  but  a  thousand  and  one 
other  things,  ranging  from  electric  locomotives  to  mon- 
key wrenches. 

Soon  after  war  was  declared  the  work  of  the  Supply 
Department  was  reorganized  into  five  separate  and  dis- 
tinct divisions,  all  under  the  direct  supervision  of  the 
Supply  Officer. 

The  Purchasing  Division  of  the  Supply  Department 
consisted  of  a  commissioned  officer,  two  pay  clerks 
(Warrant  Officers),  four  chief  petty  officers,  and  twenty- 
one  enlisted  men. 

Under  the  purchasing  system  which  prevailed  before 
the  war  bids  for  purchases  were  opened  three  times  a 
week,  and  about  twenty  bids  was  a  fair  average  for 
each  opening.  But  during  1918  the  Supply  Officer  had 
to  consider  not  less  than  two  hundred  bids  at  each  open- 
ing, and  the  increase  in  business  required  that  bids  be 
opened  daily  and  even  twice  a  day,  and  often  on  Sun- 
days and  holidays.  Before  the  war  the  Supply  Depart- 
ment maintained  a  mailing  list  containing  the  names  of 
about  eight  hundred  bidders,  which  was  adequate  to 
meet  all  the  needs.  By  the  summer  of  1918  this  list 
contained  the  names  of  more  than  fifteen  thousand  re- 
liable bidders. 


50     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

The  following  data  indicates  the  growth  of  the  Pur- 
chasing Division's  business. 

The  number  of  public  bills  written  from  January  i, 
1917,  to  March  31,  1917, — the  three  months  just  pre- 
ceding the  war — were  468,  and  represented  an  expendi- 
ture of  $114,690. 

The  number  of  public  bills  written  from  July  I,  1918, 
to  Oct.  i,  1918, — a  like  period  of  three  months — were 
5470,  and  represented  an  expenditure  of  $4,378,432. 

During  November,  1917,  the  following  fresh  pro- 
visions were  contracted  for:  Beef,  300,000  Ibs. ;  Pork, 
25,000  Ibs.;  Potatoes,  400,000  Ibs.;  Cabbages,  40,000 
Ibs.;  Onions,  25,000  Ibs.;  Fruits,  229,000  Ibs.;  Turkey, 
15,000  Ibs.;  Butter,  30,000  Ibs.;  Eggs,  30,000  dozen. 

During  November,  1918,  the  fresh  provision  contracts 
were  for:  Beef,  1,500,000  Ibs;  Potatoes,  1,500,000 
Ibs.;  Cabbage,  125,000  Ibs.;  Onions,  100,000  Ibs.;  Fruits, 
574,000  Ibs.;  Turkey,  45,000  Ibs.;  Butter,  120,000  Ibs.; 
Eggs,  75,000  dozen. 

THE   NAVAL   SUPPLY   ACCOUNT   DIVISION 

The  work  of  this  Division  of  the  Supply  Department 
was,  prior  to  the  declaration  of  war,  handled  by  one 
civil  service  clerk  and  four  civilian  laborers.  When  the 
armistice  was  signed,  the  work  of  this  division  was  be- 
ing performed  by  three  commissioned  officers  and  265 
enlisted  men.  The  stowage  space  required  before  the 
war  was  only  20,000  square  feet,  including  space  for 
provisions  and  clothing.  When  the  armistice  was 
signed  120,000  square  feet  of  stowage  space  was  being 
used  for  the  proper  stowing  of  Naval  Supply  Account 
material  alone,  and  a  great  storehouse,  524  ft.  long  by 
124  ft.  wide,  was  nearing  completion. 


SUPPLY  DISBURSING  DEPARTMENTS      51 

It  is  interesting  to  make  the  following  comparisons: 
The  value  of  the  Naval  Supply  Account  stock  carried 
prior  to  March  i,  1917,  was  approximately  $30,000. 
During  1918  it  was  necessary  for  this  division  to  main- 
tain a  stock  valued  at  approximately  $1,000,000.  The 
value  of  the  electrical  stock  alone  was  greater  than  that 
of  the  entire  stock  of  supplies  carried  prior  to  the  war. 
The  stock  of  lumber  carried  during  peace  times  was  con- 
veniently stowed  in  two  rooms  having  a  combined  floor 
space  of  150  sq.  ft.  During  the  summer  of  1918  the 
lumber  yard  of  the  Naval  Supply  Account  Division  cov- 
ered an  area  of  50,000  sq.  ft.,  and  contained  more  than 
4,000,000  ft.  of  lumber.  The  value  of  receipts  and 
expenditures  of  all  materials  prior  to  the  declaration  of 
war  was  approximately  $6000  per  month.  The  value 
of  the  receipts  during  1918  totaled  approximately  $600,- 
ooo  per  month.  A  requisition  for  500  hammocks  and 
500  mattresses  was,  prior  to  the  war,  considered  a  rather 
large  order.  At  one  time  during  the  summer  of  1918 
one  requisition  called  for  100,000  of  these  articles. 

The  Receiving  Division  of  the  Supply  Department 
handled  the  unloading,  tallying  and  distribution  of  all 
materials  received  by  the  Supply  Department,  and,  in 
conjunction  with  the  Public  Works  Department,  in- 
spected these  materials. 

The  number  of  railroad  cars  received  and  unloaded 
by  this  division  from  April  6,  1917,  to  October  i,  1918, 
totaled  more  than  ten  thousand.  The  average  number 
of  shipments  received  per  day  during  this  period  was 
eighty-one  by  railroad  and  eight  by  motor  trucks  oper- 
ating between  Great  Lakes  and  Chicago. 

The  first  operation  in  the  receiving  of  material  was 
the  unloading  of  the  railroad  cars,  which  was  done  by  a 


52     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

force  of  about  forty  experienced  tally  men  and  a  work- 
ing detail  composed  of  three  hundred  men.  Almost 
every  conceivable  kind  of  material  was  received,  such  as 
pipe  of  all  kinds,  brick,  cement,  machinery,  lumber,  cars 
of  mixed  merchandise,  automobiles,  locomotives — in 
short,  anything  and  everything  that  was  needed  prop- 
erly to  operate  a  vast  training  station. 

The  smaller  materials  had  to  be  carried  into  the  re- 
ceiving sheds  after  being  tallied,  and  all  containers 
opened  and  the  contents  counted.  Then  it  had  to  be 
passed  on  to  the  inspection  rooms,  where  inspectors  of 
the  Public  Works  Department  carefully  inspected  and 
recounted  the  materials.  Before  this  was  done,  how- 
ever, the  Purchasing  Division  of  the  Supply  Depart- 
ment had  to  furnish  an  inspection  call,  made  from  the 
Receiving  Division  report  of  delivery.  On  this  inspec- 
tion call  was  noted  any  deviation  in  quality  or  quantity, 
and  the  material  accepted  or  rejected  accordingly. 

Prior  to  the  war  the  work  of  the  Receiving  Division 
was  accomplished  by  one  civilian  employee,  aided  by  a 
few  civilian  laborers.  In  1918  the  forces  of  this  divi- 
sion included  two  commissioned  officers  and  seventy  en- 
listed men,  in  addition  to  a  working  detail  of  three  hun- 
dred men  provided  each  day  from  the  different  training 
regiments. 

The  Provisions  Division  of  the  Supply  Department 
was  organized  to  handle  the  provisions  and  clothing  for 
the  entire  Station.  At  the  beginning  of  1918,  however, 
the  Station  Disbursing  Office  took  over  the  handling  of 
clothing,  thus  leaving  this  division  free  to  concentrate 
its  energies. 

The  supplies  handled  by  this  division  were  only  such 
as  are  commonly  known  in  the  Navy  as  "dry"  provi- 


SUPPLY  DISBURSING  DEPARTMENTS      53 

sions,  such  as  sugar,  beans,  flour,  canned  goods  of  all 
kinds,  coffee,  hominy,  jams,  and  the  like — everything,  in 
fact,  that  a  grocery  store  and  meat  market  carries  ex- 
cept fresh  meats,  eggs,  butter,  fruits  and  vegetables. 
The  latter — all  perishable  provisions — were  purchased 
in  the  open  market  by  the  Purchasing  Division  of  the 
Supply  Department,  and  upon  being  received  were  im- 
mediately turned  over  to  the  Commissary  Department. 
The  "dry"  provisions,  on  the  other  hand,  were  supplies 
received  from  the  Provisions  and  Clothing  Depot  in  New 
York,  or  from  producers  and  manufacturers  under 
Navy  orders  and  Navy  contracts. 

An  idea  of  the  growth  of  the  Provisions  Division  of 
the  Supply  Department  may  be  gained  from  the  fact 
that  the  amount  of  dry  provisions  received  at  Great 
Lakes  during  the  first  quarter  of  1917  totaled  1,480,516 
Ibs.,  valued  at  $143,068,  while  for  the  same  period  in 
1918  the  total  of  dry  provisions  received  was  8,849,988 
Ibs.,  valued  at  $876,260. 

The  District  Supply  Division  of  the  Supply  Depart- 
ment was  organized  to  supply  the  needs  of  the  Ninth, 
Tenth  and  Eleventh  Naval  Districts.  Its  initial  activi- 
ties were  those  of  purchasing  or  leasing  fifty  motor 
boats  to  be  used  for  harbor  and  coast  defense  patrol 
duty  on  the  Great  Lakes,  and  the  establishing  of  section 
supply  bases  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  Detroit,  Duluth,  and 
Chicago. 

In  addition  to  the  above  mentioned  scout  patrol  bases, 
the  District  Supply  Division  continuously  supplied  the 
seven  warships — the  U.  S.  S.  Y antic,  U.  S.  S.  Isla  de 
Luzon,  U.  S.  S.  Gopher,  U.  S.  S.  Hawk,  U.  S.  S.  Wolver- 
ine, and  U.  S.  S,  Sandoval — assigned  to  duty  on  the 
Great  Lakes  for  use  in  training  recruits. 


54     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

Other  district  activities  which  made  demands  upon 
the  District  Supply  Division  for  equipment  and  supplies 
included  the  Auxiliary  Naval  Reserve  School  located 
on  the  Municipal  Pier  in  Chicago;  the  Dunwoody  In- 
stitute at  Minneapolis;  the  Naval  Training  Camp  lo- 
cated at  Detroit  in  connection  with  the  production  of 
"Eagle"  submarine  chasers;  the  Coast  Inspector's  Of- 
fice, and  the  District  Administration  offices  at  Great 
Lakes,  included  the  District  Communication  Office  and 
the  outlying  radio  stations. 

The  District  Supply  Division  had  a  personnel  consist- 
ing of  one  commissioned  officer  and  twenty-one  enlisted 
men. 

THE   ACCOUNTING   SECTION 

The  Accounting  Office  was  not  under  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  Supply  Officer,  but  so  closely  was  it  allied  with 
the  Supply  Department,  with  which  its  work  inter- 
mingled, that  it  can  best  be  dealt  with  here.  At  all  in- 
dustrial yards  affiliated  with  the  Navy,  Accounting  Of- 
fices have  been  established  for  several  years,  but  Great 
Lakes  was  the  first  non-industrial  Station  to  which  it 
was  thought  necessary  to  assign  an  Accounting  Officer. 
This,  of  course,  was  due  to  the  remarkable  size  to  which 
Great  Lakes  grew,  and  its  supreme  importance. 

The  duties  of  the  Accounting  Officer  consisted  of 
maintaining  accurate  data  on  the  costs  of  all  projects; 
recording  and  reporting  all  maintenance  charges,  in- 
cluding civilian  pay-rolls;  keeping  a  record  of  all  allot- 
ments of  money  for  up-keep,  improvements,  new  proj- 
ects, etc.;  and  preparation  at  any  time  to  furnish  the 
proper  administrative  officials  with  accurate  data  on 
these  and  allied  subjects.  He  also  was  charged  with 
maintaining  a  plant  inventory  and  property  account. 


SUPPLY  DISBURSING  DEPARTMENTS      55 

The  Accounting  Officer  was  Lieutenant  Harry 
Hooton,  Pay  Corps,  U.  S.  N.  His  working  force  con- 
sisted of  Ensign  R.  S.  Matison,  Ensign  R.  L.  Barger, 
and  forty-seven  enlisted  men,  many  of  them  skilled  ac- 
countants. 

From  all  the  above  facts,  descriptive  of  the  work  of 
the  Supply  Department,  it  may  be  seen  what  a  tremen- 
dous task  it  had  to  accomplish.  As  already  mentioned, 
this  department  was  operating  with  two  officers,  three 
clerks  and  four  laborers  just  previous  to  the  declaration 
of  war.  When  the  Armistice  was  signed,  its  forces  con- 
sisted of  ten  commissioned  officers,  five  pay  clerks,  forty- 
four  chief  petty  officers,  and  523  petty  officers  and  un- 
rated men. 

During  the  latter  part  of  1918  the  officers  of  the 
Supply  Department  included:  Lieutenant-Commander 
Horace  B.  Worden,  U.  S.  N.,  Supply  Officer;  Lieuten- 
ant (j.  g.)  R.  E.  Mulrohney,  Assistant  Supply  Officer; 
Ensign  Donald  C.  Burleigh;  Ensign  Alden  B.  Doyle; 
Ensign  Roth  S.  Keller;  Ensign  E.  L.  Montee;  Ensign 
H.  B.  Weaver;  Ensign  C.  P.  Slane;  Ensign  B.  C.  Brad- 
ner;  Pay  Clerk  G.  C.  Baugh;  Pay  Clerk  O.  H.  Boyens; 
Pay  Clerk  F.  E.  Glassman;  Pay  Clerk  G.  M.  H  olden; 
Pay  Clerk  C.  E.  Linstrand. 

THE   STATION    DISBURSING   OFFICE 

When  war  was  declared,  the  working  staff  of  what 
was  then  known  as  the  "Pay  Office"  consisted  of  three 
assistant  paymasters,  two  pay  clerks,  two  chief  yeomen 
and  ten  enlisted  men,  and  the  department  consisted  of 
the  Station  Disbursing  Office,  the  District  Disbursing 
Office,  the  Commissary  Office,  and  the  Commissary 
Stores.  But  on  May  i,  1917,  the  District  Disbursing 


56     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

Office  was  made  an  independent  organization,  and  on 
May  5,  1917,  the  Commissary  Office  was  created  as  an 
independent  department  for  the  administration  of  the 
general  mess  and  commissary  stores. 

When  the  Armistice  was  signed,  the  Station  Disburs- 
ing Office  alone  had  a  working  force  consisting  of  two 
Lieutenant-Commanders,  one  Lieutenant,  two  lieuten- 
ants, junior  grade,  eighteen  ensigns,  seven  pay  clerks, 
sixteen  chief  yeomen,  534  yeomen  and  55  storekeepers. 
At  the  head  of  the  department  was  Lieutenant-Com- 
mander R.  S.  Robertson.  His  staff  of  commissioned 
officers  consisted  of:  Lieutenant-Commander  N.  B. 
Farwell;  Lieutenant  H.  Kuhrmeyer;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.) 
G.  E.  Lord;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  R.  E.  Russey;  Ensign 
R.  L.  Barger;  Ensign  M.  S.  Bethel;  Ensign  C.  C.  Chase; 
Ensign  T.  A.  Callaghan;  Ensign  C.  F.  Cook;  Ensign  H. 
E.  Culbertson;  Ensign  R.  A.  Eckstrand;  Ensign  M.  R. 
Grady;  Ensign  E.  V.  Irwin;  Ensign  M.  A.  Johnson;  En- 
sign D.  A.  McDougald;  Ensign  G.  B.  Pardee;  Ensign 
C.  S.  Redhead ;  Ensign  L.  A.  Tibor ;  Ensign  C.  C.  Furr ; 
Ensign  K.  O.  Hester ;  Ensign  W.  A.  Scott ;  Ensign  E.  H. 
Hagel;  Pay  Clerk  J.  H.  Becker;  Pay  Clerk  P.  L. 
Brothers;  Pay  Clerk  J.  J.  Dillon;  Pay  Clerk  M.  E.  Mc- 
Kay; Pay  Clerk  Charles  Musil;  Pay  Clerk  A.  C.  Schroe- 
der;  Pay  Clerk  L.  W.  Sperling;  Pay  Clerk  J.  R.  LaPado. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  war,  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
for  many  months,  the  Station  Disbursing  Office  was 
continually  in  the  process  of  being  "almost  swamped." 
It  was  no  easy  matter  to  handle  the  pay  accounts,  allot- 
ments and  insurance  of  a  constantly  changing  popula- 
tion of  thousands  upon  thousands  of  men,  and  equipment 
was  woefully  lacking.  And  the  pay  accounts  of  the 
men  was  only  part  of  this  department's  work — it  had 


SUPPLY  DISBURSING  DEPARTMENTS      57 

likewise  to  pay  for  all  of  the  supplies,  the  materials  used 
in  the  construction  of  the  great  wooden  cantonments, 
and  meet  all  public  bills. 

To  overcome  the  shortage  in  men  requests  were  sent 
out  daily  to  the  different  training  regiments  and  to  the 
Incoming  Detention  Camps  for  the  kind  of  trained  men 
who  were  needed,  such  as  expert  accountants,  book- 
keepers and  stenographers.  Additional  office  space  was 
gradually  taken  over  until  the  department  occupied  the 
entire  south  wing,  including  the  basement,  of  the  Ad- 
ministration Building.  At  times  the  rush  of  work  made 
it  necessary  to  erect  tents  for  office  purposes  on  all  the 
available  ground  space  around  the  Administration  Build- 
ing, and  to  fill  the  corridors  of  the  Administration  Build- 
ing with  men  working  at  desks  composed  of  packing 
boxes  and  boards  placed  on  radiators. 

Gradually,  the  organization  of  the  Station  Disburs- 
ing Office  was  built  up  and  a  system  created  that  could 
take  care  of  the  enormous  amount  of  work  which  the 
expansion  of  Great  Lakes  entailed. 

When  the  number  of  men  training  at  Great  Lakes 
passed  the  25,000  mark,  the  chief  drawback  discovered 
in  the  payroll  system  used  up  to  that  time  was  the  length 
of  the  period  required  to  transfer  the  rolls  at  the  begin- 
ning of  each  quarter.  Because  of  the  lack  of  trained 
payroll  men,  it  took  from  ten  days  to  two  weeks  to  trans- 
fer the  payroll.  Therefore,  motor-driven  addresso- 
graph  and  graphotype  machines  were  installed,  and 
these  were  provided  with  special  features  to  permit  the 
use  of  the  payroll  forms.  Stencils  were  made  for  each 
name  on  the  rolls  and  these  were  filed  numerically.  As 
new  names  were  added  to  the  rolls,  new  stencils  were 
made.  As  men  were  transferred,  their  stencils  were  re- 


58     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

moved  from  the  files.  At  the  end  of  a  quarter  it  was 
necessary  only  to  run  the  stencils  in  the  live  file  through 
the  addressograph,  then  to  enter  the  dates,  rates,  amount 
of  pay  and  balances,  and  the  new  rolls  were  ready  for 
operation.  Stamps  were  obtained  for  all  ordinary  pay 
rates  and  for  the  usual  notations  that  had  to  be  made 
on  the  rolls.  By  the  use  of  this  equipment,  work  was  so 
simplified  that  it  was  found  the  payrolls  could  be  trans- 
ferred and  made  ready  for  the  business  of  the  new  quar- 
ter in  a  day  and  a  night. 

In  connection  with  the  above  named  equipment,  a 
visible  index  was  installed,  showing  the  names  arranged 
alphabetically.  In  each  case  the  full  name  of  the  man, 
his  pay  number  and  rating,  and  date  of  enlistment  was 
shown  in  this  index. 

It  should  be  of  interest  to  the  men  who  passed  through 
Great  Lakes  to  know  how  their  transfer  to  sea  was 
handled.  Upon  receipt  of  an  order  from  the  Detail 
Office  to  transfer  a  draft  of,  say,  five  hundred  men,  the 
yeoman  in  charge  of  the  visible  index  inserted  the  pay 
numbers  of  the  men  to  be  transferred.  This  list  was 
then  turned  over  to  the  addressograph  section,  where  the 
stencils  for  the  list  were  pulled,  filed  numerically,  and 
run  off.  Three  copies  of  the  list  were  then  furnished 
to  the  chiefs  of  the  payroll  section.  The  names  on  such 
a  list  were  spaced  about  three  inches  apart  in  the  pay- 
roll section,  and  under  each  name  was  entered  the  date 
to  which  the  payment  was  made,  the  rate  of  pay,  the  bal- 
ance due  or  balance  over-paid,  all  allotment  information, 
and  any  other  notations  necessary  to  go  on  the  transfer. 
While  this  work  was  being  done,  the  addressograph  sec- 
tion ran  off  in  triplicate  the  usual  transfer  forms,  and 
these  forms  were  turned  over  to  the  transfer  section  for 


SUPPLY  DISBURSING  DEPARTMENTS      59 

typing.  When  the  forces  of  the  payroll  section  had 
completed  the  work  of  closing  the  accounts  of  the  men 
on  the  draft,  the  strips  on  which  they  entered  the  neces- 
sary information  were  also  turned  over  to  the  transfer 
section  and  the  transfers  were  then  completed. 

Compulsory  allotments  for  enlisted  men  of  the  Navy 
and  Government  insurance  also  provided  a  tremendous 
amount  of  work  for  the  Station  Disbursing  Office.  The 
amount  of  insurance  taken  out  by  the  men  who  passed 
through  Great  Lakes  totaled  more  than  $100,000,000. 

The  value  of  the  clothing  issued  to  the  men  received 
at  Great  Lakes  from  April  6,  1917,  to  September  3Oth, 
1918,  was  $8,832,047. 

The  amount  of  money  paid  to  men  carried  on  the  pay- 
rolls of  the  Station  Disbursing  Office  from  April  I, 
1917,  to  December  i,  1918,  amounted  to  $6,259,075. 

All  money  expended  for  the  construction  of  new 
camps,  the  rental  of  leased  land,  the  provisioning  of  the 
Station,  the  stocking  of  the  Ships'  Stores,  and  for  trans- 
portation, was  handled  by  the  Station  Disbursing  Of- 
fice. The  total  amount  thus  spent  during  the  period 
from  April  I,  1917,  to  November  i,  1918,  was  $19,- 
851,647.  The  largest  item  was  for  the  construction  of 
the  new  camps,  the  amount  approximating  $10,078,016. 
The  other  big  item,  which  came  to  approximately  $5,- 
178,941,  was  for  the  provisioning  of  the  Station  and  the 
stocking  of  the  Ships'  Stores. 

THE   RECEIVING   SHIP   DISBURSING   OFFICE 

On  the  first  of  January,  1918,  the  officers  and  enlisted 
men  more  or  less  permanently  attached  to  Great  Lakes 
as  its  operating  personnel,  and  known  as  the  Ships'  com- 
pany, were  transferred  into  the  Receiving  Ship.  This 


6o     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

resulted  in  the  establishment  of  the  Receiving  Ship  Dis- 
bursing Office,  with  Lieutenant  C.  R.  Stevenson,  Pay 
Corps,  U.  S.  N.,  as  its  head. 

The  pay  accounts  transferred  to  this  office  from  the 
Station  Disbursing  Office  at  that  time  were  5260  in 
number.  Of  this  number,  5000  were  enlisted  men,  two 
hundred  were  officers,  and  sixty  were  nurses. 

Just  previous  to  the  signing  of  the  armistice,  the 
number  of  pay  accounts  carried  by  the  Receiving  Ship 
Disbursing  Office  was  close  to  9000,  of  which  8000  were 
enlisted  men,  750  were  officers,  and  200  were  nurses  at- 
tached to  the  Hospital. 

The  officers  attached  to  the  Receiving  Ship  Disburs- 
ing Office  included  Lieutenant  C.  W.  Stevenson ;  Ensign 
L.  W.  Bishop;  Ensign  S.  L.  Jones;  Pay  Clerk  R.  W. 
Shea;  Pay  Clerk  M.  H.  Thies. 


THE   COMMISSARY   DEPARTMENT 

The  duties  of  the  Commissary  Department  were  in- 
corporated with  those  of  the  Station  Disbursing  Office 
until  May  I,  1917.  On  that  date  Lieutenant  F.  H.  At- 
kinson, of  the  Pay  Corps  Division,  U.  S.  N.,  was  as- 
signed to  duty  as  Commissary  Officer  and  took  charge 
of  the  General  Mess  and  the  Commissary  Store,  the  lat- 
ter being  a  regular  grocery  and  meat  market  at  which  of- 
ficers and  men  who  had  families  living  in  the  vicinity  of 
Great  Lakes  could  purchase  supplies  at  cost. 

Previous  to  the  declaration  of  war  the  Commissary 
forces  at  Great  Lakes  consisted  of  one  Chief  Commis- 
sary Steward,  ten  cooks,  and  five  bakers.  Soon  after 
April  6,  1917,  the  number  of  recruits  enrolled  as  Lands- 
men for  Ships'  Cooks  had  passed  the  three  hundred 


SUPPLY  DISBURSING  DEPARTMENTS      61 

mark.     These  men  were  instructed  as  rapidly  as  pos- 
sible for  duty  as  cooks  and  bakers. 

During  the  summer  of  1918  there  were  approximately 
one  thousand  men  assigned  to  duty  in  the  Commissary 
Department.  Practically  all  of  these  men  had  had  to 
be  trained  in  the  Navy  method  of  preparing  foods. 

The  policy  of  transferring  the  cooks,  bakers  and  Com- 
missary Steward,  who  were  best  fitted  for  duty  aboard 
ship  to  such  duty,  made  it  necessary  to  have  a  large  num- 
ber of  Landsmen  for  Ships'  Cooks  in  the  process  of  be- 
ing trained  at  all  times.  From  May  i,  1918,  to  Novem- 
ber i,  1918,  more  than  six  hundred  Commissary  Stew- 
ards, Cooks  and  Bakers  were  transferred  to  sea. 

During  1918  numerous  changes  were  made  in  the  sys- 
tem of  operating  the  many  huge  galleys  and  mess  halls. 
Lieutenant  Atkinson  asked  for  the  assignment  of  a  num- 
ber of  ensigns  of  the  Pay  Corps  to  act  as  his  assistants. 
The  ten  officers  who  reported  were  given  a  thorough 
course  of  instruction  in  the  Navy  methods  of  cooking 
and  baking  and  were  then  sent  to  Chicago  to  learn  how 
to  inspect  meats  and  produce,  and  to  become  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  market  conditions.  On  finishing  the 
instruction  courses  these  officers  were  assigned  to  the 
different  camps — one  to  each  camp — with  the  purpose 
in  mind  of  eliminating  waste  and  making  improvements 
in  the  methods  of  preparing  and  serving  food  to  the  men. 

The  quality  inspection  of  all  fresh  provisions  received 
at  Great  Lakes  during  the  first  few  months  of  the  war 
was  made  by  medical  officers.  Later,  however,  this  work 
was  done  by  two  Chief  Commissary  Stewards,  one  stew- 
ard being  an  expert  on  the  inspection  of  meats,  butter, 
cheese  and  eggs,  and  the  other  an  expert  on  fruits  and 
vegetables. 


62     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

The  food  consumed  at  Great  Lakes  during  the  six- 
months  period  between  April  i,  1918,  and  October  i, 
1918,  amounted  to  12,237  tons,  valued  at  approximately 
$2,600,000.  Of  this  food,  seventy-three  percent  was 
fresh  fruits,  vegetables  and  meats.  Of  the  fresh  meats, 
eighty-one  percent  was  beef,  and  of  the  fresh  vegetables, 
ninety-two  percent  was  Irish  potatoes.  An  average  of 
33,663  men  per  day  were  fed  at  Great  Lakes  for  the  six- 
months  period  in  question,  at  an  average  cost  per  meal 
of  fourteen  cents. 

The  Pay  Corps  officers  attached  to  the  Commissary 
Department  were:  Lieutenant-Commander  F.  H.  At- 
kinson, Ensign  J.  R.  Parkhurst,  Ensign  P.  C.  Berkley, 
Ensign  L.  B.  Berman,  Ensign  R.  C.  Capelli,  Ensign  E. 
B.  Cook,  Ensign  J.  M.  Jones,  Ensign  Aner  Erickson, 
Ensign  Paul  N.  Chalfant,  Ensign  W.  E.  Kraft,  Ensign 
H.  S.  Scheimman,  Ensign  J.  M.  Speissegger,  Ensign  B. 
H.  Smith. 

THE   SHIPS'    STORES   DEPARTMENT 

This  department  was  something  new  in  the  Navy,  for 
never  before  was  there  a  "Ships'  Store"  on  shore.  In 
the  fall  of  1917,  Lieutenant  James  D.  Boyle,  Pay  Corps, 
U.  S.  N.,  was  ordered  to  Great  Lakes  to  take  charge  of 
this  new  department  and  a  Ships'  Store  was  established 
in  each  of  the  regimental  units. 

By  the  late  summer  of  1918,  the  Ships'  Stores  De- 
partment consisted  of  a  main  office,  three  large  store- 
rooms, and  twenty  Ships'  Stores,  and  its  ope-rating  force 
had  grown  from  thirty  to  one  hundred  and  seventy  men. 

The  stock  carried  by  these  stores  included  candies, 
cakes,  cigars,  cigarettes  and  tobacco,  pipes,  fountain 
pens,  soap,  shaving  cream,  dental  cream,  razors,  sta- 


The  Supply  Storage  in  the  Main  Drill  Hall 

The  Supply  Officer,  Lieutenant-Commander  H.  B.  Worden,  and  his  Staff 
A  Company  Mess  Hall 


The  Firemen's  Classroom 

A  Regimental  Street  of  Barracks 

The  Machinists'  Mates  Class 


SUPPLY  DISBURSING  DEPARTMENTS      63 

tionery,  tooth  brushes,  shoe  brushes  and  notions  of  all 
sorts  required  by  a  great  camp  of  men. 

The  amounts  of  such  goods  required  by  the  Ships' 
Stores  Department  from  the  time  of  its  establishment 
up  to  November  i,  1918,  shows  how  big  the  demand 
was.  The  candies  carried  approximated  1,000,000  Ibs., 
with  a  value  of  about  $300,000;  cigars,  1,322,000,  valued 
at  $61,000;  cigarettes,  52,970,000,  in  packages  ranging 
from  ten  to  one  hundred  in  each,  valued  at  $335,173; 
cakes,  615,000  Ibs.,  valued  at  $118,800;  soap,  795,000 
bars;  shaving  cream  100,000  packages,  valued  at 
$20,000. 

Buying  in  such  large  quantities,  it  was  possible  to  get 
reductions  in  prices.  The  benefit  of  such  close  buying 
accrued  directly  to  the  men,  as  the  goods  were  sold  over 
the  counter  at  cost,  plus  ten  percent. 

The  ten  percent  profit  was  also  used  for  the  benefit  of 
the  men.  In  accordance  with  instructions  covering  all 
Ships'  Stores,  the  ten  percent  profit  goes  into  a  fund 
known  as  the  Crews'  Entertainment  Allotment,  and  can 
be  expended  only  for  the  health,  comfort  and  entertain- 
ment of  the  crew. 

The  fund  thus  made  at  Great  Lakes  was  largely  used 
for  the  development  of  athletics  and  amusement.  The 
following  is  a  partial  list  of  the  purchases  made  from 
this  fund:  Much  miscellaneous  stage  equipment,  in- 
cluding eight  complete  motion  picture  outfits;  10,000 
bleacher  seats  for  the  Main  Athletic  Field;  lumber  for 
indoor  running  tracks,  hurdles,  etc.;  backstops  for  the 
Station  and  the  Regimental  baseball  fields;  350  baseball 
suits  complete,  500  pairs  of  baseball  shoes,  12  sets  of 
bases,  250  gloves,  50  bats,  and  24,000  baseballs;  180 
footballs;  396  football  uniforms,  complete  with  pants, 


64     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

jerseys,  helmets,  shoulder  pads,  shoes,  etc.;  basket  ball 
equipment,  including  180  complete  suits  and  120  balls; 
wrestling,  boxing  and  swimming  material,  including  150 
outfits  for  each  sport,  and  400  sets  of  boxing  gloves — in 
all  about  $65,000  worth  of  material. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE   STATION    BUILDERS 

ALL  the  departments  at  Great  Lakes  carried  a  tre- 
mendous load  during  the  war  period,  overcom- 
ing in  one  way  or  another  problem  after  prob- 
lem which  at  first  seemed  insurmountable. 

Of  all  the  departments  that  of  Public  Works  was 
probably  most  harassed  by  an  ever  increasing  multi- 
tude of  projects  which  had  to  be  completed  on  given 
dates,  no  matter  how  great  the  handicap  or  the  volume 
of  work  already  being  carried.  If  Captain  Moffett 
wanted  a  regimental  unit,  or  a  huge  drill  hall,  or  five 
thousand  wooden  decks  for  the  tented  camps,  he  got 
them  on  the  dates  set.  The  construction  of  thirty-five 
barracks  in  Camp  Barry  in  the  course  of  one  week, 
which  has  already  been  described  in  this  history,  was 
only  one  of  hundreds  of  examples  that  might  be  drawn 
upon  to  show  the  efficiency  of  the  Public  Works  Depart- 
ment. 

Briefly,  the  duties  of  the  Public  Works  Department 
were  to  draw  the  plans  for  Great  Lakes'  wartime  ex- 
pansion, down  to  the  minutest  detail ;  supervise  all  con- 
struction, whether  done  by  civilian  contractors  or  by 
enlisted  men;  see  to  the  upkeep  of  buildings,  grounds 
and  public  works;  operate  the  power  house,  the  heating 
systems,  the  water  supply,  the  sewage  disposal;  and  to 
operate  the  carpenter,  machine  and  paint  shops. 

When  Great  Lakes  experienced  its  first  real  attack 
of  "growing  pains,"  the  problem  of  labor  was  one  of  no 

65 


66     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

mean  proportion.  To  provide  accommodations  for  the 
thousands  of  bluejackets  during  their  embryonic  period 
necessitated  a  tremendous  amount  of  building.  At  first 
practically  all  this  building  work  was  done  by  civilian 
labor,  but  labor  conditions  in  general  were  none  too 
healthy  at  that  time  and  the  civilian  forces  were  hardly 
adequate.  The  small  communities  in  the  vicinity  of 
Great  Lakes  did  not  harbor  a  large  industrial  popula- 
tion. It  was  necessary  for  the  contractors  to  bring  the 
greater  part  of  their  workmen  from  Chicago  each  day, 
offering  high  wages,  making  arrangements  for  special 
trains,  paying  railroad  fares  and  giving  other  induce- 
ments to  get  a  large  body  of  men  together. 

Such  a  procedure  was  found  impracticable  for  the 
work  of  maintaining  the  Station  and  for  small  con- 
struction jobs.  This  work  increased  by  leaps  and 
bounds  as  Great  Lakes  expanded,  and  so  the  Public 
Works  Department  was  forced  to  utilize  enlisted  labor 
in  order  to  keep  pace  with  the  demands. 

It  was  in  this  way  the  Public  Works  Regiment  came 
into  being.  The  need  of  its  services  rapidly  increased 
as  the  civilian  contractors  completed  the  new  canton- 
ments, for  the  Public  Works  Department  was  called 
upon  to  take  over  these  camps  and  make  many  minor 
adjustments  and  improvements  that  had  not  been  cov- 
ered by  contract  work. 

In  order  to  accomplish  this  the  regular  training  regi- 
ments were  called  upon  to  transfer  to  the  Public  Works 
Regiment  all  men  who  had  had  experience  in  the  build- 
ing trades  or  who  had  enrolled  as  Landsmen  for  train- 
ing in  the  artificer  branches.  Scouts  were  placed  in 
the  Incoming  Detention  camps  to  hunt  out  recruits  who 
had  had  artificer  experience. 


THE  STATION  BUILDERS  67 

It  may  be  well  to  state  here  that  at  no  time  was  it  the 
intention  to  use  enlisted  labor  in  competition  with  civil- 
ian labor  working  on  contract  projects.  The  larger 
construction  work,  with  the  exception  of  the  two  regi- 
mental units  in  Camp  Paul  Jones,  the  regimental  unit  in 
Camp  Barry,  the  addition  to  Camp  Farragut,  several 
large  office  buildings,  and  the  grandstand  and  bleachers 
of  the  Main  Athletic  Field,  was  all  done  by  civilian  con- 
tractors and  civilian  labor.  But  for  every  big  contract 
job  there  were  twenty-five  smaller  jobs  that,  because  of 
their  nature,  could  be  handled  better  and  more  expedi- 
tiously  by  enlisted  men. 

The  Public  Works  Regiment  was,  of  course,  a  train- 
ing as  well  as  a  working  organization.  Efficiency  in 
construction  depends  upon  organization  more  than  upon 
men;  on  leadership  more  than  on  numbers.  A  well  or- 
ganized group  of  one  hundred  mechanics,  efficiently  su- 
pervised, will  accomplish  more  than  five  times  their  num- 
ber of  equally  skilled  mechanics  unorganized  and  under 
poor  leadership. 

The  purpose  of  the  training  in  the  Public  Works 
Regiment  was  not  so  much  to  teach  the  artificer  trades 
to  "green"  men  as  to  assemble  artificers,  discover  the 
abilities  of  each,  select  the  natural  leaders,  work  the 
men  at  their  trades  under  these  leaders,  and  teach  them 
military  drill  and  discipline.  The  endeavor  was  to  have 
these  men  ready  at  all  times  for  transfer  to  other  sta- 
tions or  naval  bases  in  this  country  and  abroad,  and  to 
the  fighting  ships.  The  average  time  the  men  were 
retained  at  Great  Lakes  was  from  three  to  four  months, 
during  which  period,  as  already  stated,  they  were  used 
effectively  on  construction  jobs  and  Station  mainte- 
nance work. 


68     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

When  war  was  declared,  the  Public  Works  Depart- 
ment consisted  of  about  fifty  civilian  employees,  mostly 
laborers,  under  the  supervision  of  Mr.  L.  A.  Pease,  the 
engineer  in  charge  of  the  Power  House.  There  was 
no  officer  of  the  Civil  Engineering  Corps  of  the  Navy 
on  duty  at  Great  Lakes  at  that  time,  and  Lieutenant 
Tracy  McCawley  was  Public  Works  Officer,  along  with 
his  duties  as  head  of  the  Intelligence  Department. 
Lieutenant  McCawley  was  immediately  detached,  how- 
ever, and  Mr.  L.  A.  Pease  was  temporarily  appointed 
Public  Works  Officer.  At  this  time  the  land  surround- 
ing the  Main  Station  was  covered  with  timber,  brush 
and  crops. 

Early  in  May,  1917,  the  Public  Works  Department 
had  grown  until  its  forces  included  several  hundred  en- 
listed men,  quartered  wherever  space  could  be  found. 
The  Main  Power  House  was  literally  a  hotel.  Men 
were  allowed  to  sleep  in  the  offices  at  night  and  stow 
their  bedding  out  of  sight  during  the  day.  The  first 
real  quarters  assigned  to  Public  Works  men  was  a  small 
tent  colony  just  north  of  the  Administration  Building. 

With  the  beginning  of  construction  operations  on  a 
big  scale  a  small  group  of  skilled  men,  numbering  about 
forty,  was  added  to  the  Public  Works  force.  These 
men  were  used  mostly  for  surveying,  drafting  and  in- 
spection work.  At  this  time  A.  N.  Smith,  Civil  Engi- 
neer, U.  S.  N.,  was  sent  from  Washington  to  take 
charge  of  construction  and  relieve  L.  A.  Pease  as  Pub- 
lic Works  Officer.  A  short  time  later  Commander 
George  McKay,  Civil  Engineer,  U.  S.  N.,  relieved  A. 
N.  Smith. 

From  this  point  on  the  growth  of  the  Public  Works 


THE  STATION  BUILDERS  69 

Department  was  very  rapid;  in  fact,  so  rapid  that  every 
proposed  outline  of  organization  became  obsolete  be- 
fore it  could  be  put  into  efiect.  In  the  fall  of  1917  the 
Public  Works  Regiment  started  to  construct  barracks 
for  its  own  use  in  Camp  Paul  Jones,  but  before  these 
barracks  were  complete  and  ready  to  be  occupied  by 
the  850  men  they  would  accommodate,  the  regiment 
was  composed  of  1500  men. 

In  April,  1918,  one  year  after  the  declaration  of  war, 
the  Public  Works  regiment  had  a  complement  of 
2150  men.  It  was  made  up  of  three  battalions  of 
five  companies  each,  and  a  Headquarters  Company. 
The  latter  was  composed  of  the  division  heads  and 
other  officers  and  rated  men  of  the  headquarters  forces. 

In  so  far  as  was  possible  the  men  of  the  various 
trades  represented  were  kept  together  in  forming  the 
companies  and  battalions.  One  battalion  for  instance, 
was  formed  of  companies  made  up  of  carpenters  and 
shipwrights;  another  of  machinists,  plumbers  and  fit- 
ters; and  still  another  was  made  up  of  firemen.  This 
made  it  possible  for  the  battalion  and  company  com- 
manders to  familiarize  themselves  with  the  kinds  of 
work  to  which  they  had  to  detail  their  men,  and  greatly 
simplified  the  keeping  of  records.  If  a  gang  of  car- 
penters, painters,  electricians  or  plumbers  failed  to  ap- 
pear on  a  job  as  ordered,  it  was  a  simple  matter  accu- 
rately to  place  the  blame. 

The  head  of  the  Pulic  Works  Department  during 
1918  was  Commander  Walter  H.  Allen,  Civil  Engineer, 
U.  S.  N.  Early  in  1918  the  business  of  the  Public 
\Vorks  Department  was  divided  into  three  main  di- 
visions, each  of  which  was  further  subdivided  into  sec- 


70     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

tions.  The  three  main  divisions  were  designated  as 
the  Executive  Office,  the  Construction  Office,  and  the 
Regimental  Office. 

The  Executive  Office  directed  the  Station  mainte- 
nance work,  such  as  the  operation  of  the  powerhouse  and 
heating  plants,  power  distribution,  telephone  installa- 
tion, and  all  transportation  on  the  Station  by  motor 
trucks  or  horse-drawn  vehicles;  the  clerical  work,  such 
as  correspondence,  cost  accounting,  requisitions  for  sup- 
plies, and  employment  of  civilian  labor;  and  the  hand- 
ling of  all  project  work,  such  as  plans  and  specifications 
for  new  construction,  estimates,  surveys,  etc. 

The  Construction  Office  had  charge  of  all  new  con- 
struction work,  whether  done  by  contract  labor  or  by 
the  enlisted  men.  When  the  work  was  being  done  by 
contract  labor  it  maintained  a  thorough  inspection  and 
pushed  it  through  to  completion.  If  the  work  was  to 
be  done  by  the  enlisted  forces,  it  obtained  the  necessary 
men  from  the  regimental  office,  laid  out  the  work  and 
directed  the  construction. 

The  Regimental  Office  had  charge  of  the  enlisted 
personnel  of  the  Public  Works  Department  in  all  mili- 
tary matters.  It  was  held  responsible  for  the  detailing 
of  men  to  do  the  different  construction  jobs;  for  the 
preparing  of  drafts  of  men  to  be  sent  to  other  stations 
or  aboard  the  fleets;  for  the  obtaining  of  new  men  to 
replace  these  drafts;  and  for  the  discipline,  housing, 
feeding,  and  military  instruction  of  all  the  enlisted  men 
attached  to  the  Public  Works  Department. 

The  Public  Works  Department  was  later  reorganized 
into  five  main  divisions,  known  as  the  Contract  Divi- 
sion, Projects  Division,  Station  Labor  Division,  Clerical 
Division  and  Regimental  Division.  The  Station  Labor 


THE  STATION  BUILDERS  71 

Division  was  subdivided  into  five  sections — the  Building 
Section,  Ground  Section,  Main  Power  House  Section, 
Transportation  Section,  and  Mechanical  Section.  The 
Projects  Division  was  subdivided  into  eight  sections — 
the  Architectural  Section,  Sewer  and  Water  Section, 
General  Engineering  Section,  File  and  Blue  Print  Sec- 
tion, and  Specification  and  Estimating  Section.  The 
Contract  Division  was  made  up  of  an  Office  Section,  an 
Electrical  Section,  and  two  sections  of  field,  road,  lum- 
ber, sewer  and  water  inspectors-  The  subdivisions  of 
the  Clerical  Division  including  Correspondence,  Ac- 
counting, Requisition,  Inspection  and  Survey,  Tele- 
phone and  Real  Estate  sections. 

The  Public  Works  Regiment  reached  its  highest  point 
in  number  of  men  on  November  5,  1918,  when  the  forces 
of  the  Public  Works  Department  numbered  fifty-five 
officers  and  6211  enlisted  men,  formed  into  eleven  bat- 
talions. 

The  organization  of  the  Public  Works  Department 
at  Great  Lakes  on  a  military  basis  was  so  successful  as 
to  prove  that  it  might  well  become  a  recognized  military 
department  of  the  Navy.  With  such  an  organization, 
trained  mobile  units  were  made  available  for  construc- 
tion in  any  part  of  the  world,  and  especially  for  train- 
ing stations,  and  naval  and  aviation  bases.  The  forces 
of  artificers  so  organized  at  Great  Lakes  were  capable 
of  doing  duty  either  afloat  or  ashore.  In  addition  to 
sending  thousands  of  artificers  to  the  fighting  ships,  this 
Public  Works  Department  found  it  possible  to  take  from 
its  regiment  large  details  of  trained  men  and  send  them 
away  under  their  own  officers  and  petty  officers,  with 
designers  to  plan  any  kind  of  construction  work,  a 
clerical  force  to  handle  the  paper  work  and  construction 


72     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

records,  material  inspectors,  etc. ;  in  fact,  complete  units 
capable  of  naval  station  construction  in  all  its  branches. 

Shortly  after  the  United  States  declared  war  upon 
Germany  the  Public  Works  Department  at  Great  Lakes 
was  called  upon  by  Captain  Moffett  to  supply  skilled 
artificers  for  duty  aboard  the  fleets  and  at  naval  bases 
in  European  waters.  There  was  a  big  demand  for 
skilled  mechanics  of  all  branches.  The  men  sent  out 
from  Great  Lakes  on  these  drafts  were  all  good  me- 
chanics, but  knew  nothing  of  the  application  of  their 
trades  aboard  ship. 

Therefore,  early  in  1918,  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  A.  L. 
Pease,  chief  of  the  Power  Maintenance  Division  of  the 
Public  Works  Department,  and  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  W.  E. 
Bringhurst  foresaw  the  advantage  to  be  gained  by 
schooling  men  along  the  lines  of  their  respective  trades 
before  sending  them  to  sea.  The  details  of  a  school 
were  worked  out  by  Lieutenant  Bringhurst  and  sub- 
mitted to  the  Public  Works  Officer,  Commander  Walter 
H.  Allen.  The  proposition  was  then  taken  to  the  Com- 
mandant, who  sent  it  to  the  Bureau  of  Navigation  for 
approval.  The  outcome  was  the  establishment  of  the 
Artificers'  School,  with  Lieutenant  Bringhurst  as  Com- 
manding Officer. 

Classes  in  the  Artificers'  School  were  officially  started 
in  July,  1918,  with  an  attendance  of  100  students. 
These  men  received  instruction  in  Electricity,  Plumbing 
and  Fitting,  Ship  Fitting,  and  Marine  Machinery.  The 
Plumber  and  Fitter  Class  was  the  first  to  be  graduated, 
after  an  intensive  course  of  eight  weeks.  This  class 
was  composed  largely  of  rated  men.  The  line  of  work 
given  them  included  the  care  of  the  different  piping  sys- 
tems on  board  ship,  both  salt  and  fresh  water,  also 


THE  STATION  BUILDERS  73 

ventilation.  The  different  details  taken  up  included  the 
repair  of  fire  mains  and  flushing  lines,  valve  construc- 
tion and  repair,  and  the  bending  of  steel,  copper  and 
lead  piping.  A  side  course  in  ship  fitting  was  also 
given,  as  the  rating  of  Ship  Fitter  is  closely  associated 
with  that  of  Plumber  and  Fitter.  The  subjects  taught 
in  this  course  included  the  making  of  repairs  to  dam- 
aged hull  plating,  the  construction  and  application  of 
hard  and  soft  patches,  steel  calking,  and  rivet  driving 
and  spanning  in  water  and  in  oil-tight  work. 

The  electrical  course  of  the  Artificers'  School  ex- 
tended over  a  period  of  fifteen  weeks,  divided  into  five 
sections  of  three  weeks  each.  The  first  section  pro- 
vided instruction  on  steam  turbines,  internal  combustion 
engines,  and  all  such  steam  auxiliary  devices  as  con- 
densers, circulating  pumps,  steam  separators,  boiler 
feed  pumps,  traps,  and  manifolds.  The  second  section- 
provided  instruction  in  the  theory  of  electricity  and 
magnetism,  and  the  study  of  dynamos  and  motors.  The 
instruction  received  in  the  third  section  consisted  of  the 
practical  operation  of  dynamos  and  motors  and  motor 
control  for  ordnance  gear.  In  the  fourth  section 
was  taught  the  theory  of  the  alternating  current 
and  battery,  and  the  practical  operation  of  all 
intercommunication  apparatus.  The  fifth  section  in- 
structed the  men  on  lighting,  signaling,  the  searchlight, 
and  electrical  ship  propulsion. 

To  be  eligible  for  entrance  in  the  Artificers'  School,  a 
man  had  to  know  one  of  the  trades  taught.  The  school 
was  not  intended  to  teach  its  students  a  trade,  but  to 
provide  him  with  training  in  the  Navy's  way  of  apply- 
ing his  trade. 

During  September  and  October,  1918,  a  total  of  1450 


74     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

men  were  receiving  instruction  in  the  Artificers'  School, 
and  classes  were  being  held  both  day  and  night. 

The  officers  of  the  Public  Works  Department  were: 
Commander  W.  H.  Allen,  Officer  in  Charge;  Lieutenant 
Willard  Doud,  Executive  Officer;  Lieutenant  W.  C. 
Davis;  Lieutenant  E.  H.  Clark;  Lieutenant  John  Mc- 
Phee;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  H.  E.  Beard;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.) 
R.  K.  Merrill;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  W.  C.  Monroe;  Lieu- 
tenant (j.  g.)  W.  E.  Bringhurst;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.) 
L.  A.  Pease;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Jules  Urbain;  Lieuten- 
ant (j.  g.)  H.  L.  Voight;  Ensign  C.  B.  Andrews;  En- 
sign A.  McDonald ;  Ensign  C.  L.  Rogers ;  Ensign  E.  L. 
Schunck;  Ensign  P.  E.  Schunck;  Ensign  Cyril  Talbot; 
Ensign  C.  I.  Gebhardt;  Ensign  C.  A.  Gilmore;  Ensign 
W.  I.  Thompson;  Gunner  C.  R.  DonDurant;  Gunner 
E.  T.  Gould;  Chief  Carpenter  C.  J.  Lishman;  Machin- 
ist E.  A.  Chambers;  Machinist  James  P.  Chrisman; 
Machinist  W.  A.  Dullach;  Machinist  A.  C.  Goodnow; 
Machinist  A.  W.  Kyle;  Machinist  J.  M.  Rundberg;  Ma- 
chinist A.  F.  Studzinski;  Carpenter  Howell  Barnes; 
Carpenter  J.  E.  Barto;  Carpenter  A.  E.  Brandt;  Car- 
penter J.  J.  Femley ;  Carpenter  A.  G.  Garrett ;  Carpenter 
H.  W.  Hoehnke;  Carpenter  W.  H.  Hough;  Carpenter 
C.  A.  Klein;  Carpenter  P.  E.  Korman;  Carpenter  E.  L. 
Nelson;  Carpenter  C.  W.  McCumber;  Carpenter  M.  E. 
Pugh;  Carpenter  Albert  Reisz;  Carpenter  J.  B.  Sul- 
livan; Carpenter  Max  Weivhelt;  Carpenter  John  E. 
Willis. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE    HOSPITAL   AND   REGIMENTAL   DISPENSARIES 

THE  Navy's  Medical  Service  at  Great  Lakes  con- 
sisted of  two  separate  and  distinct  branches — 
the  Medical  Department  of  the  Training  Sta- 
tion itself,  and  the  U.  S.  Naval  Hospital,  which  may  be 
designated  as  the  "Hospital  Group." 

To  prevent  serious  illness  is  one  thing;  the  care  of 
the  seriously  ill  another.  Broadly  speaking,  the  activ- 
ities of  the  Medical  Department  of  the  Station  were 
directed  to  preserve  the  health  of  men  and  take  care  of 
their  minor  illnesses,  while  the  Naval  Hospital  assumed 
the  care  of  all  cases  of  serious  ill-health. 

The  Naval  Hospital,  or  hospital  group,  was  located  in 
a  natural  quiet  zone,  as  it  was  cut  off  from  the  Main 
Station  and  the  numerous  training  camps  by  two  deep, 
thickly-wooded  ravines. 

Prior  to  the  war,  the  Hospital  Group  comprised  the 
main  hospital  building,  a  laundry  building,  and  the  resi- 
dences of  three  medical  officers.  The  main  building, 
a  massive  brick  structure  splendidly  equipped,  contained 
four  wards,  each  of  which  accommodated  thirty  beds; 
a  thoroughly  equipped  operating  room ;  the  offices  of  the 
medical  staff;  the  main  galley  and  mess  hall;  a  labor- 
atory, dispensary,  and  special  diet  kitchen;  and  numer- 
ous storerooms.  Each  of  the  wards  had  a  large  sun 
parlor. 

On  the  day  that  war  was  declared  the  hospital  con- 
tained one  hundred  and  eighty  patients,  some  of  whom 

75 


76     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

were  being  accommodated  in  the  laundry  building  and 
in  one  of  the  storerooms.  There  were  no  contagious 
units. 

The  erection  of  three  contagious  units  was  begun  in 
May,  1917,  and  completed  two  months  later,  providing 
accommodation  for  seventy-five  beds,  twenty-five  in 
each  unit.  Six  additional  contagious  units,  somewhat 
larger,  with  a  barracks  building  and  galley  and  mess  hall 
for  the  attendants,  were  started  in  July,  1917,  and  com- 
pleted in  September,  providing  two  hundred  and  fifty 
additional  beds  for  contagious  patients. 

The  construction  of  the  main  portion  of  the  emer- 
gency hospital  group  was  commenced  in  August,  1917, 
and  completed  the  following  December.  At  the  begin- 
ning of  1918,  therefore,  the  Hospital  Group  comprised 
the  main  hospital  building;  ten  H-shaped  ward  units, 
each  of  which  contained  two  large  wards;  nine  contag- 
ious units ;  three  subsistence  buildings  in  which  food  was 
prepared  for  service  in  the  wards  and  mess  halls;  a 
group  of  dormitories,  with  galley  and  mess  hall,  for 
the  nurses;  a  group  of  barracks  for  the  hospital  corps- 
men,  a  garage  for  the  motor  ambulances,  a  power  house, 
laundries,  refrigerating  plant,  incinerator  plant,  etc. 
These  emergency  buildings  were  all  of  wooden  construc- 
tion, but  had  a  brighter,  more  homelike  appearance 
than  the  buildings  in  the  numerous  training  camps. 
They  were  painted  white,  with  green  trim  around  the 
windows  and  doors,  and  the  wards  and  dormitories  had 
porches  which  made  them  appear  more  like  cottages 
than  barracks.  All  these  buildings  were  double-walled, 
thus  providing  an  air  space  that  made  for  warmth  in 
winter  and  coolness  in  summer;  the  floors  were  double, 


DISPENSARIES  77 

assuring  warmth  under  foot;  and  the  radiation  (steam 
was  used  for  heating)  was  sufficient  to  allow  for  open 
windows  even  in  the  coldest  weather.  This  emergency 
construction,  which  gave  the  Hospital  Group  a  capacity 
of  1400  beds,  cost  $1,500,000.  An  additional  $300,000 
was  spent  during  1917  for  new  hospital  equipment. 

During  the  spring  and  summer  of  1918  additional 
quarters  were  constructed  for  the  nurses;  three  deep 
artesian  wells  were  drilled  to  give  the  Hospital  Group  a 
better  quality  of  water  than  that  obtainable  from  Lake 
Michigan ;  and  two  large  observation  wards  were  built, 
along  with  numerous  other  smaller  buildings.  And  in 
September,  1918,  Camp  Ross  which  had  been  used  up 
to  that  time  as  a  Detention  Unit  was  taken  over  as  an 
addition  to  the  Hospital  Group.  This  added  about  fifty 
buildings  to  the  Hospital  Group,  giving  it  a  total  ca- 
pacity of  about  2800  beds. 

The  number  of  patients  cared  for  from  April  6,  1917,. 
to  November  10,  1918,  were  15,900.  Of  this  number 
about  four  thousand  were  measles,  German  measles,  and 
mumps  patients.  The  hardest  strain  the  Hospital 
Group  had  to  bear  came  in  the  autumn  of  1918,  as  the 
result  of  the  influenza  epidemic.  The  number  of  in- 
fluenza patients  transferred  to  the  Hospital  Group  dur- 
ing the  months  of  September  and  November  was  2484. 

During  the  final  months  of  the  war,  the  staff  of  the 
Hospital  Group  consisted  of  about  eighty  medical  of- 
ficers; 165  nurses  all  of  whom  were  qualified  members 
of  the  regular  Navy  or  Naval  Reserve  Corps;  and  270 
Hospital  Corpsmen,  graduates  of  the  Hospital  Corps 
Training  School  at  Great  Lakes.  The  commanding  of- 
ficer of  the  Hospital  Group  during  the  entire  war  period 


78     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

was  Captain  H.  E.  Odell,  Medical  Corps,  U.  S.  N.  His 
Executive  Officer  was  Commander  H.  F.  Hull,  Medical 
Corps,  U.  S.  N. 

THE    REGIMENTAL   DISPENSARIES 

As  already  stated,  the  health  of  the  men  at  Great 
Lakes  was  looked  out  for  by  the  Medical  Department 
of  the  Station  itself.  This  department  was  in  charge 
of  the  Main  Dispensary,  the  Psychiatric  Unit,  the  Regi- 
mental Dispensaries;  had  general  supervision  of  the 
medical  and  sanitary  conditions  on  the  Station ;  and  con- 
ducted the  physical  examination  and  the  culturing  of 
all  incoming  and  outgoing  recruits. 

The  duties  of  the  staff  of  medical  officers  attached  to 
this  department  were  many  and  various.  One  of  the 
most  important  was  the  practice  of  preventive  medicine. 
This  staff  vaccinated  the  men  to  prevent  smallpox;  im- 
munized them  from  typhoid  fever  by  injections  of  anti- 
typhoid serum ;  applied  the  Schick  test  to  determine  im- 
munity to  diphtheria,  and  took  throat  cultures  for  the 
purpose  of  discovering  and  isolating  chronic  carriers  of 
cerebrospinal  fever.  It  combated  the  fly  and  mosquito 
peril  by  providing  for  the  proper  handling  of  garbage, 
by  draining  or  oiling  all  still  water  swamps  and  pools 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  Station,  and  by  treating  manure 
piles  to  kill  the  fly  egg  and  maggot.  It  inspected  all  the 
milk  and  soft  drinks  and  water  used  on  the  Station  and 
in  the  vicinity,  providing  for  sanitary  handling  of  them. 

It  inspected  the  mess  halls,  galleys,  sculleries  and 
barber  shops  for  sanitation.  And,  in  addition,  it  at- 
tended to  all  the  minor  illnesses  of  the  men  on  the 
Station,  sending  them  to  the  Hospital  Group  only  where 
the  cases  were  serious  or  liable  to  become  so.  It  also 


DISPENSARIES  79 

cared  for  the  sick  who  were  living  off  the  Station,  and 
this  included  the  families  of  the  men  as  well  as  the  men 
themselves. 

A  month  before  the  declaration  of  war  the  Medical 
Department  consisted  of  two  medical  officers,  one  den- 
tal surgeon,  three  chief  pharmacists'  mates  and  eight 
pharmacists'  mates.  The  latter  part  of  March,  1917, 
two  additional  medical  officers  reported  for  duty.  The 
overcrowding  of  men  had  already  become  appreciable 
and  a  tent  colony  was  started  to  accommodate  recruits. 
Sick  calls  were  held  in  the  sick  bay  in  Incoming  Deten- 
tion, where  there  were  only  eight  beds  for  a  daily  sick 
call  of  two  hundred  men;  and  in  the  Main  Sick  -Bay, 
adjacent  to  the  Drill  Hall.  A  report,  dated  March  13, 
1917,  stated  that  the  Main  Dispensary  had  only  ten 
beds  and  no  other  space  for  observation  of  patients 
without  the  exposure  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  men  at 
sick  call.  Three  days  later  there  were  thirty  patients 
in  the  Main  Dispensary,  all  beds  were  occupied  and  the 
remainder  of  the  sick  were  accommodated  on  their  own 
mattresses  on  the  deck.  A  small  armory  adjoining  the 
dispensary  had  been  furnished  with  six  beds  and  was 
used  as  an  isolation  and  observation  ward.  The  Naval 
Hospital  was  at  this  time  unequipped  for  the  handling 
of  contagious  diseases,  so  a  barracks  in  Incoming  De- 
tention was  used  to  accommodate  such  cases  when  they 
were  mild  or  convalescent. 

During  the  three  months  following  the  declaration 
of  war  conditions  improved  steadily.  Each  tented 
camp  had  its  own  dispensary  and  sick  bay,  likewise  in 
tents.  Medical  Inspector  C.  M.  DeValin  reported  in 
May  to  assume  charge  of  the  Medical  Department.  In 
June  the  staff  consisted  of  thirty-six  medical  officers. 


seven  dental  officers,  two  pharmacists,  and  forty-nine 
hospital  corpsmen. 

A  shortage  of  blankets  and  blue  clothing,  together 
with  unusually  rainy  weather,  prevented  the  use  of  all 
the  tents,  and  this  resulted  in  considerable  overcrowding 
in  the  barracks.  Overcrowding  was  especially  danger- 
ous because  men  could  not  be  kept  long  enough  to 
undergo  a  detention  period  covering  the  incubation  of 
mumps,  measles  and  scarlatina. 

On  May  14,  1917,  a  Sanitation  Division  was  organ- 
ized with  Lieutenant  D.  E.  Hillis  at  its  head.  During 
the  summer  this  organization  exercised  supervision  over 
the  water  supply,  sewerage  and  garbage  disposal,  sterili- 
zation of  mess  gear,  and  all  sanitary  activities  on  the 
Station. 

During  June,  July,  August  and  September,  1917,  all 
the  enlisted  men  were  quartered  in  tents.  This  out- 
door life  gave  them  a  bronzed  and  healthy  appearance. 
They  usually  gained  about  ten  pounds  in  weight  during 
their  first  two  weeks  of  this  life. 

The  last  three  months  in  1917  were  marked  by  the 
occupation  of  the  new  wooden  cantonments.  Each  of 
the  Regimental  Units  composing  the  new  camps  had  its 
own  dispensary  and  sick  bay  and  an  isolation  building. 
The  staff  of  the  Medical  Department  consisted  at  this 
time  of  fifty-four  medical  officers,  thirteen  dental  sur- 
geons, two  pharmacists,  and  180  hospital  corpsmen — de- 
tailed to  the  medical  headquarters,  the  twelve  regimen- 
tal dispensaries,  the  psychiatric  unit,  the  laboratory,  and 
the  recruiting  office.  In  November  Surgeon  Owen  G. 
Mink  became  Senior  Medical  Officer  to  relieve  Medical 
Inspector  DeValin. 

In  the  plans  for  the  new  Regimental  Units,  built  in 


DISPENSARIES  81 

1918,  provision  was  made  for  enlarged  and  improved 
dispensary  units  and  isolation  cubicles. 

With  the  disappearance  of  snow  and  the  advent  of 
milder  weather  in  the  spring  of  1918,  it  was  again  pos- 
sible to  relieve  congestion  and  crowding  by  the  use  of 
tents  for  quartering  the  men.  Coincident  with  this,  the 
general  supervision  of  sanitation  was  resumed  by  the 
Sanitation  Officer  and  his  staff,  as  in  the  previous  sum- 
mer. For  this  work  the  Station  was  divided  into  seven 
districts,  in  each  of  which  a  group  of  hospital  corpsmen 
made  daily  inspections  and  carried  out  sanitary  meas- 
ures under  the  direction  of  the  Sanitary  Officer  and  his 
assistant,  who  covered  the  entire  Station  daily.  In  ad- 
dition to  the  usual  activities  for  improving  Station  Sani- 
tation, further  protection  was  secured  by  the  advisory 
regulation  of  the  civilian  restaurants  and  other  business 
places  to  which  the  men  had  access  in  the  surrounding 
civil  communities. 

The  outstanding  medical  feature  of  the  third  quarter 
of  1918  was  the  epidemic  of  influenza  which  struck 
Great  Lakes  in  September.  The  policy  of  treating  the 
majority  of  the  patients  in  the  regimental  dispensaries 
and  transferring  to  the  Hospital  Group  only  the  serious 
cases  and  those  in  which  pneumonia  developed  was  fol- 
lowed throughout  the  epidemic.  By  this  means  a  great 
overcrowding  of  the  hospital  group  was  avoided  and 
early  treatment  was  made  more  certain.  During  the 
critical  period  barracks  adjoining  the  dispensaries  were 
used  to  house  the  sick.  The  services  of  the  hospital 
corpsmen  were  supplemented  by  volunteers  from  the 
Hospital  Corps  Training  School  and  from  the  different 
departments  and  regiments.  A  great  many  of  these 
volunteers  had  had  some  experience  in  caring  for  the 


82     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

sick  and  all  of  them  rendered  valuable  assistance. 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  secretaries  and  Red  Cross  workers  also 
contributed  largely  to  the  successful  handling  of  the 
situation,  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  huts  being  turned  over  for  use 
as  wards.  In  addition  to  the  care  of  the  Navy  person- 
nel and  families  sick  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Station,  as- 
sistance was  also  given  civilians  in  neighboring  cities 
and  towns  by  the  loan  of  hospital  corpsmen  to  the  hos- 
pitals. The  epidemic  affected  about  one-fifth  of  the 
population  of  Great  Lakes,  with  a  mortality  of  nineteen 
per  thousand. 

When  Great  Lakes  reached  the  crest  of  its  expansion, 
the  medical  officers,  thirty-seven  dental  officers,  several 
pharmacists,  and  440  hospital  corpsmen,  the  number  of 
regimental  dispensaries  had  increased  to  eighteen. 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  know  just  what  the  procedure 
was  at  Great  Lakes  in  case  of  illness.  When  a  man 
became  indisposed,  he  appeared  at  sick  call,  or  his  case 
was  reported  to  the  medical  officer  in  charge  of  the  dis- 
pensary of  the  Regimental  Unit  in  which  he  was  quar- 
tered. If  the  indisposition  was  not  serious,  or  conta- 
gious, the  patient  got  no  further  than  the  sick  bay  of  this 
dispensary,  but  was  kept  there  for  treatment.  If  the 
nature  of  the  case  was  suspicious,  the  patient  was  im- 
mediately placed  in  one  of  the  sections  or  cubicles  of 
the  isolation  building,  where  he  remained  until  the  na- 
ture of  his  indisposition  became  clear.  In  either  in- 
stance, however,  the  moment  the  case  developed  alarm- 
ing symptoms  the  patient  was  placed  in  an  ambulance 
and  hurried  to  the  Hospital  Group.  Once  there,  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  staff  of  the  Medical  Department 
ceased,  and  the  medical  staff  of  the  Hospital  Group  took 
hold  of  the  case.  The  next  step  was  to  place  the  patient 


DISPENSARIES  83 

under  the  care  of  a  medical  officer  especially  qualified 
to  handle  the  particular  case,  and,  if  the  condition  of 
the  patient  was  serious,  to  assign  a  special  nurse  to  con- 
stant duty  at  his  bedside.  Under  such  conditions — and 
there  was  no  exception  to  this  rule — the  parents  or  wife 
of  the  patient  were  immediately  notified  by  official  tele- 
gram, and  further  telegrams  were  sent  as  long  as  the 
patient's  condition  remained  desperate.  Close  relatives 
of  the  patients  were  allowed  every  opportunity  to  be 
with  them  in  the  hospital  wards,  except  in  dangerously 
contagious  cases. 

The  Medical  Staff  of  the  Hospital  consisted  of  the 
following  officers,  just  prior  to  the  signing  of  the  arm- 
istice: Captain  H.  E.  Odell,  Commanding  Officer;  Com- 
mander H.  F.  Hull,  Executive  Officer;  Commander 
J.  M.  Minter,  Sub-Executive  Officer;  Lieutenant  Com- 
mander C.  H.  Auf hammer,  Sub-Executive  Officer; 
Lieutenant-Commander  N.  H.  Clark,  Sub-Executive 
Officer;  Lieutenant-Commander  C.  W.  Carr,  Sub- 
Executive  Officer;  Lieutenant  W.  A.  Brams,  Sub-Ex- 
ecutive Officer;  Lieutenant  W.  E.  Carson;  Lieutenant 
R.  W.  Holbrook;  Lieutenant  R.  L.  Larson;  Lieutenant 
J.  F.  McCullough;  Lieutenant  F.  B.  McNierney;  Lieu- 
tenant J.  S.  Plumer;  Lieutenant  F.  A.  Reickhoff ;  Lieu- 
tenant N.  W.  Shelley;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  D.  H.  Adams; 
Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  F.  J.  Albers;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  E.  D. 
Anderson;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  T.  O.  Anderson;  Lieu- 
tenant (j.  g.)  C.  E.  Beede;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  R.  F. 
Ballaire;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  D.  E.  Broderick,  Lieuten- 
ant (j.  g.)  G.  E.  Burman;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Harry 
Burns;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  K.  S.  Caldwell;  Lieutenant 
(j.  g.)  C.  B.  Childs;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  C.  N.  Colbert; 
Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  W.  L.  Colby;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.) 


S4     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

B.  O.  Dysart;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  W.  L.  Fleck;  Lieu- 
tenant (j.  g.)  F.  G.  Folken;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  M.  E. 
Fulk;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  J.  W.  Gamble;  Lieutenant 
(j.  g.)  R.  E.  Gaston;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  C.  J.  Grieves; 
Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  E.  P.  Hall;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.) 
J.  H.  Harris;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  W.  W.  Hall; 
Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  G.  A.  Hass;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.) 
H.  C.  Hocum;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  C.  P.  Holland; 
Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  W.  C.  Ives;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  A.  J. 
Jongeward;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  H.  J.  Kooiker;  Lieuten- 
ant (j.  g.)  R.  J.  Leutsker;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  D.  L. 
Liberman;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  A.  J.  Link;  Lieutenant 
(j.  g.)  R.  R.  Loar;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  R.  R.  Losey; 
Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  W.  M.  Lott;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  E.  F. 
Lundquist;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  B.  W.  Malfroid;  Lieu- 
tenant (j.  g.)  J.  B.  Marks;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  L.  R. 
Melinkoff ;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  R.  J.  Mercey;  Lieutenant 
(j-  &)  T.  B.  N.  Murphy;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Donald 
McCarthy;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  R.  J.  McCurdy;  Lieu- 
tenant (j.  g.)  R.  W.  McNeally;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  W.  B. 
McWilliams;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  A.  H.  Orcutt;  Lieu- 
tenant (j.  g.)  George  W.  Palm;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Isom 
A.  Rankin;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  William  B.  Parent;  Lieu- 
tenant (j.  g.)  George  B.  Quinn;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.) 
J.  W.  RateclifT;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Arthur  G.  Rieke; 
Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  H.  B.  Sanford;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.) 
Burton  V.  Scott;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  John  M.  Slattery; 
Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Jerome  F.  Smersh;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.) 
Albert  M.  Snell;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Alfred  J.  H. 
Treacy;  Lieutenant  (j.  g. )  James  H.  Wallace;  Lieuten- 
ant (j.  g.)  John  M.  Whalen;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Homer 
Woolery;  Pharmacist  W.  F.  Bly;  Pharmacist  Charles 
E.  Miller;  Pharmacist  Claude  E.  Worden. 


DISPENSARIES  85 

The  medical  officers  attached  to  the  Medical  Depart- 
ment of  the  Station  itself,  just  prior  to  the  signing  of 
the  armistice,  were :  Commander  Owen  J.  Mink,  Senior 
Medical  Officer;  Lieutenant  Commander  James  D.  Bob- 
bitt;  Lieutenant  Commander  David  S.  Hillis;  Lieuten- 
ant Warren  E.  Bradbury;  Lieutenant  Robert  C.  Brad- 
ley; Lieutenant  Drew  Luten;  Lieutenant  Francis  I. 
Ridge;  Lieutenant  Clarence  V.  Spawr;  Lieutenant 
(j.  g.)  Samuel  J.  Alden;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Ward  C. 
Alden;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  James  F.  Anderson;  Lieuten- 
ant (j.  g.)  E.  G.  Archibold;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Chas.  W. 
Barrier;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Delbert  R.  Blender;  Lieu- 
tenant (j.  g.)  Oscar  E.  Blank;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  James 
P.  Bowles;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Cyrus  C.  Brown;  Lieu- 
tenant (j.  g.)  Lloyd  A.  Burrows;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.) 
Verne  B.  Calloman;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Clarence  A. 
Chandler;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Roger  M.  Choisser;  Lieu- 
tenant (j.  g.)  Harold  P.  Cole;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  John 
P.  Coughlin;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Joel  I.  Denman;  Lieu- 
tenant (j.  g.)  Frederick  J.  Fakins;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.) 
Moury  I.  Ellis;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Robert  M.  Ent- 
whistle;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Clement  Fisher;  Lieutenant 
(j.  g.)  Paul  J.  Flory;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Max  W.  Flo- 
thow;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Andrew  H.  Frankel;  Lieuten- 
ant (j.  g.)  James  K.  Gordon;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  J.  Ellis 
Hodes;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Hardy  V.  Hughens;  Lieu- 
tenant (j.  g.)  Myron  E.  Kahn;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.) 
Aaron  E.  Kanter;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  W.  Ivan  King; 
Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Chas.  A.  Koeningsberger ;  Lieutenant 
(j.  g.)  Gustave  A.  Larson;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Charles 
Lieber;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Martin  R.  Lorenzen;  Lieu- 
tenant (j.  g.)  Francis  V.  Mallory;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.) 
Hubert  F.  Meacham;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Harvey  W. 


86     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

Miller;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Harry  W.  Moore;  Lieuten- 
ant (j.  g.)  Leo  T.  McNicholas;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.) 
Trygve  Oftedal;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Patrick  H.  Owens; 
Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Fred  R.  Reed;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.) 
Edwin  F.  Robb;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Eugene  F.  Sayers; 
Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Robert  L.  Schaefer;  Lieutenant 
(j.  g.)  Robert  F.  Schanz;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Jeremy  J. 
Sharp;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Emil  J.  Stelter;  Lieutenant 
(j.  g.)  John  W.  Stuhr;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Roland  B. 
Taber;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  James  C.  Walker;  Lieutenant 
(j.  g.)  John  M.  Walker;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Hiram  B. 
West;  Pharmacist  Ernest  C.  Brooks;  Pharmacist 
George  R.  Hansen;  Pharmacist  Carson  A.  Nelson; 
Pharmacist  Harry  L.  Rogers;  Pharmacist  William  L. 
Stewart. 

The  officers  of  the  Dental  Corps  attached  to  the  Med- 
ical Department  were:  Lieutenant  Commander  E.  E. 
Harris ;  Lieutenant  Commander  A.  F.  McCreary ;  Lieu- 
tenant C.  A.  Chandler;  Lieutenant  H.  S.  Hursh;  Lieu- 
tenant H.  C.  Miller;  Lieutenant  W.  B.  Nash;  Lieuten- 
ant (j.  g.)  A.  B.  Applebee;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  W.  H. 
Barnfield;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Samuel  Barr;  Lieutenant 
(j.  g.)  B.  H.  Barton;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  C.  H.  Bleeg; 
Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  J.  W.  Bourquin;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.) 
F.  E.  Campbell;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  H.  G.  Carmichael; 
Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Maurice  Cohen;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.) 
W.  E.  Coverley;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  D.  G.  Dampier; 
Lieutenant  (j.  ?.)  G.  A.  Dezois;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.) 
H.  B.  Duncan;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  F.  J.  Edelstein;  Lieu- 
tenant (j.  g.)  L.  A.  Francis;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  W.  S. 
Forth;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  M.  H.  Furman;  Lieutenant 
(j.  g.)  H.  W.  Gamble;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  J.  E.  Gib- 
bons; Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  W.  H.  Hubbard;  Lieutenant 


Captain  H.  E.  Odell  and  Lieutenant-Commander  H.  F.  Hull,  with   Medical  Officers 

attached  to  the  Hospital 

The  Interior  of  a  Hospital  Ward 

The  Board  of  Medical  Survey 


Ensign  P.  B.  Riley,  Commanding  Officer  of  Outgoing  Detention,  and  his  Assistants 

"  Still "  Practice  with  Field  Guns 
Waiting  for  the  Call  to  "  Shove  Off  " 


DISPENSARIES  87 

(j.  g.)  E.  Q.  Heely;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  C.  P.  Holland; 
Lieutenant  (j.  g.)   C.  B.  Johnson;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.) 
M.  P.  Kane;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  W.  J.  Kennedy;  Lieu- 
tenant (j.  g.)  E.  J.  Kiesendahl;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Ed- 
mund Laughlin;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Leon  Levy;  Lieu- 
tenant (j.  g.)  T.  J.  McCarthy;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  R.  S. 
Maxwell;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Mortimer  Mayer;  Lieuten- 
ant (j.  g.)  K.  W.  Messner;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  C.  L. 
Norris;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  W.  I.  Northup;  Lieutenant 
(j.  g.)  J.  R.  Palkin;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  August  Pecaro; 
Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  W.  P.  E.  Reed;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.) 
C.  W.  Rodgers;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  D.  W.  Rupert;  Lieu- 
tenant  (j.   g.)    C.   O.   Sandstrom;  Lieutenant    (j.  g.) 
Emanuel  Scher;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Samuel  Segal;  Lieu- 
tenant (j.  g.)  L.  F.  Snyder;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  R.  C. 
Green;   Lieutenant   (j.  g.)    A.   L.   Souter;   Lieutenant 
(j.  g.)  Bernard  Spiro;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  M.  G.  Swen- 
sen;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  O.  J.  Tagland;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.) 
A.  R.  Tahblinng;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  E.  S.  Talbot;  Lieu- 
tenant (j.  g.)  W.  R.  Taylor;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  E.  C. 
Varner;  Lieutenant   (j.   g.)    Louis  Wolf;  Lieutenant 
(j.  g.)  E.  J.  Zajicek;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  R.  J.  Bailey; 
Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  P.  G.  Brown;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  A.  L. 
Burleigh;  Lieutenant  (j.  g)  N.  E.  Drake;  Lieutenant 
(j.  g.)  L.  V.  Feike;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  H.  D.  Hipsh; 
Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  F.  R.  Hittinger;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.) 
H.  L.  Kalen;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)   E.  B.  Keffer;  Lieu- 
tenant (j.  g.)  J.  A.  Kelly;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Irl  Knight; 
Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  W.  F.  Kramer;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.) 
R.  N.  Lindbeck;  Lieutenant   (j.  g.)   R.  J.  O'Donnell;. 
Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  W.  F.  Quinn;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  H.  G. 
Ralph;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Walter  Rehrauer;  Lieuten- 
ant (j.  g.)   C.  E  Reynolds;  Lieutenant   (j.  g.)   A.  L, 


88     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

Schwalb;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  T.  W.  Spear;  Lieutenant 
(j-  &)  C.  W.  Stegmaier;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  D.  P.  Tag- 
gart;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  F.  E.  Turnbaugh;  Lieutenant 
(j.  g.)  Louis  Wainman;  Lieutenant  (j,  g.)  J.  A.  Walt- 
ers; Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  V.  D.  Whitaker;  Lieutenant 
(j.  g.)  H.  C.  Wickham;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  E.  H. 
Zimmer. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  "DETENTION"  AND  APPRENTICE  SEAMEN 
REGIMENTS 

THE  section  of  Great  Lakes  known  as  "Incoming- 
Detention,"  at  first  consisting  of  one  regimental 
unit  and  finally  of  four  such  units,  was  in  many 
respects  one  of  the  most  interesting  sub-divisions  of  the 
Station  during  the  war  period.  And  particularly  was 
this  so  to  the  recruit  himself. 

It  was  in  Incoming  Detention  that  more  than  125,000 
of  the  youth  of  the  Middle  West  were  introduced  to  the 
Navy's  "hurry-up"  program  for  converting  civilians 
into  man-of-warsmen,  for  transforming  men  of  peace- 
ful pursuits  into  fighting  sailors.  They  entered  Incom- 
ing Detention  in  droves,  a  shambling,  uncertain,  be- 
wildered crowd  of  the  great  undisciplined. 

In  Incoming  Detention  they  passed  through  the  rookie 
stage,  the  period  of  greatest  change ;  the  "Hit-the-deck !" 
period  during  which  they  learned  in  no  uncertain  way 
that  the  Navy  had  a  vocabulary  all  its  own  and  a  use 
for  it. 

It  was  in  Incoming  Detention,  in  an  exceptionally 
busy  "take-it-or-leave-it"  kind  of  men's  furnishings 
emporium,  that  they  got  their  first  outfit  of  sailor 
clothes — an  emporium  in  which  the  "salty  guys"  who 
"dished  out"  the  clothing  knew  all  there  was  to  know 
about  proper  fit,  and  in  which  the  only  mirror  was  the 
grin  of  commiseration  on  a  companion's  face.  But  one 
question  was  asked  and  only  one  answer  allowed  in  the 

89 


90     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

outfitting  of  a  recruit,  and  that  had  to  do  with  the  size 
of  his  feet.  In  those  feet  he  could  stand  5  ft.  3  in.,  or 
6  ft.  6  in.,  with  a  waist  line  of  32  or  46  in.,  without  the 
difference  being  of  any  great  moment.  The  alterations 
required  were  few  and  of  minor  detail,  consisting  mostly 
of  the  shortening  of  trousers,  which  kept  ten  tailors 
continually  busy. 

It  was  in  Incoming  Detention  that  the  recruit  became 
homesick  and  got  over  it,  where  he  made  everlasting 
friendships,  and  laid  deep  plans  (Oh,  Boy!)  for  that 
first  twelve  hours  of  "shore  leave."  It  was  likewise  in 
Incoming  Detention  that  he  was  first  introduced  to  the 
Ki-yi  brush  and  the  coal  pile — where  he  scrubbed  his 
whites  until  his  shoulders  ached  and  then  wore  that 
lily-white  uniform  directly  aboard  a  coal  pile  and  had 
to  scrub  all  over  again. 

The  main  purpose  of  Incoming  Detention  was,  of 
course,  to  segregate  the  new  men  for  the  twenty-one  day 
period  during  which  would  develop  any  contagious  dis- 
ease they  might  have  come  in  contact  with  before  arriv- 
ing at  Great  Lakes.  Health,  physical  and  mental,  was 
the  foundation  upon  which  all  the  rest — discipline, 
seamanship,  gunnery — was  built.  So  in  Incoming  De- 
tention the  recruit  also  got  his  first  dose  of  the  Navy's 
way  of  assuring  his  good  health,  individually  and  col- 
lectively. 

From  the  moment  the  recruit  arrived  in  Incoming  De- 
tention he  was  under  the  constant  supervision  of  a  par- 
ticularly large  and  efficient  medical  staff.  The  watch- 
word was  "Prevention."  Cigarettes,  chewing  tobacco, 
chewing  gum,  all  matches  that  were  not  of  the  "safety" 
variety,  bowie  knives,  pistols,  and  any  supply  of  patent 
medicines  or  "home  cures"  were  confiscated  the  moment 


APPRENTICE  SEAMEN  REGIMENTS        91 

the  recruit  arrived.  He  was  allowed,  however,  to  re- 
tain and  use  his  pipe  and  smoking  tobacco. 

The  next  health  step  was  a  bath,  which  was  part  of 
the  daily  routine,  and  a  haircut  if  it  was  needed.  Fol- 
lowing these  preliminaries  he  appeared  at  the  medical 
headquarters  and  received  a  thoroughly  physical  ex- 
amination. Then  he  got  the  first  of  the  three  injections 
(shots)  of  anti-typhoid  serum,  was  vaccinated,  and 
given  the  Schick  test  for  immunity  to  diphtheria.  After 
he  was  through  with  these  very  important  preventive 
measures,  his  throat  was  cultured  to  determine  whether 
or  not  he  was  a  chronic  carrier  of  cerebro-spinal  fever. 
When  the  medical  examiners  got  through  with  him,  he 
was  turned  over  to  the  dental  surgeons  for  such  emer- 
gency work  as  the  extraction  of  all  decayed  roots,  a 
thorough  spring  house-cleaning  of  his  teeth,  the  treat- 
ment of  unhealthy  gums,  and  the  remedying  of  all  acute 
conditions.  His  entire  set  of  teeth  was  also  charted 
for  repair  work. 

By  such  means  the  health  of  the  boy  who  entered  the 
Navy  was  protected  to  an  extent  that  is  seldom  carried 
out  in  civil  life.  From  the  moment  the  recruit  arrived 
in  Incoming  Detention  he  was  constantly  drilled  in  meas- 
ures of  health.  He  was  warned  that  cleanliness  is  god- 
liness in  the  Navy,  and  that  any  infraction  of  the  health 
rules  laid  down  by  the  medical  staff  would  result  in- pun- 
ishment. 

The  detention  period,  as  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  John 
Sharpe,  Officer  in  charge  of  Incoming  Detention  under- 
stood it,  was  of  the  utmost  importance  in  determining 
whether  a  man  would  be  a  benefit  or  a  detriment  to  the 
Navy.  So  it  became  his  purpose  to  instill  strict  disci- 
pline from  the  very  beginning,  to  start  the  recruit  on  his 


92     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

way  with  a  proper  conception  of  his  duties  both  to  him- 
self and  to  the  service.  Therefore  the  recruit  got  the 
preliminary  steps  of  his  training  in  Incoming  Detention, 
as  well  as  his  clothing  and  his  inoculations.  Infantry 
formations  and  drill  were  started  in  many  instances  im- 
mediately a  company  was  formed  and  even  before  the 
men  were  outfitted.  The  primary  purpose  of  a  man's 
enlistment  was  his  ultimate  perfection  for  service  afloat, 
and  this  was  fostered  from  the  first  day  on,  not  only  by 
discipline  and  drills,  but  by  labor  of  various  kinds,  in- 
cluding the  coal  pile. 

Lieutenant  Sharpe  also  understood  that  the  detention 
period  was  the  "lonesome"  period,  so  a  great  amphi- 
theatre was  constructed  in  the  ravine  separating  Camps 
Decatur  and  Farragut.  During  the  summer  months 
outdoor  entertainments  of  every  conceivable  nature, 
from  rookie  boxing  bouts  to  grand  opera  and  the  Rus- 
sian dancers,  were  provided.  Some  of  the  highest  class 
acts  in  vaudeville  were  billed,  and  the  enthusiasm  dis- 
played by  the  lonesome  rookies  was  ample  compensation. 
Great  songfests  were  also  held  under  the  direction  of 
Herbert  Gould. 

Another  source  of  entertainment  was  the  institution 
of  a  zoo,  which  started  with  the  presentation  to  the 
Officer  in  Command  of  two  big  brown  bears,  John  and 
Susie.  The  zoo  grew  until  it  contained  three  bears, 
two  deer,  three  American  eagles,  eight  goats  (mountain 
variety),  three  badgers,  twenty-five  rabbits,  two  ferrets, 
two  owls,  two  guinea  pigs,  a  possum  and  a  hawk. 

Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  John  Sharpe,  U.  S.  N.,  was  the  of- 
ficer in  charge  of  the  Incoming  Detention  Camps.  The 
regimental  commanders  who  assisted  him  were:  C.  E. 
Munson,  Gunner,  U.  S.  N.;  M.  A.  Sandberg,  Boatswain, 


APPRENTICE  SEAMEN  REGIMENTS        93 

U.  S.  N. ;  Ned  P.  Baugh,  Chief  Quartermaster,  U.  S.  N. ; 
and  A.  J.  Hardy,  Chief  Gunner's  Mate,  U.  S.  N. 

THE  APPRENTICE   SEAMEN    REGIMENTS 

The  training  organization  at  Great  Lakes  during  the 
war  period  consisted  of  a  division,  brigades,  regiments, 
battalions  and  companies.  The  Commandant  was  Di- 
vision Commander,  and  the  Executive  Officer  was  Divi- 
sion Adjutant.  The  Drill  Officer  was  Brigade  Com- 
mander, and  as  such  was  responsible  for  all  men  under 
training.  Commissioned  and  Warrant  Officers  were 
assigned  as  Regimental  Commanders,  and  Warrant  and 
Chief  Petty  Officers  as  Regimental  Adjutants.  Bat- 
talion Commanders  were  Warrant  or  Chief  Petty  Of- 
ficers, and  the  company  commanders  were  men  selected 
from  the  seaman  branch  and  given  special  course  of 
study  in  the  Petty  Officers'  School. 

Apprentice  seamen  formed  the  bulk  of  the  men  trained 
at  Great  Lakes.  These  men  were  all  given  their  train- 
ing in  the  First,  Second,  Third,  Fourth  and  Fifth  Regi- 
ments. 

The  apprentice  seamen  were  received  by  these  regi- 
ments from  Incoming  Detention  in  companies  of  144 
men.  Upon  receipt  of  information  from  the  Receiving 
Group  that  one  of  these  regiments  was  to  receive  a  new 
company,  a  company  commander  was  ordered  to  stand 
by  to  take  charge  of  it.  Assisted  by  his  two  Section 
Chiefs,  he  assured  himself  that  the  jackstays  for  swing- 
ing hammocks  and  tricing  up  sea  bags  were  secure ;  that 
the  barracks  were  supplied  with  the  proper  number  of 
sneeze  screens ;  that  doors  and  windows  were  fitted  with 
screens  in  proper  season;  that  the  barracks  were  thor- 


94     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

oughly  cleaned  and  ventilated,  and  that  the  necessary 
cleaning  utensils  were  at  hand. 

The  new  company  was  marched  over  from  Incoming 
Detention  by  an  Apprentice  Petty  Officer  who  had  in  his 
possession  a  duplicate  muster  list  and  the  transfer  cards 
of  the  men.  The  baggage  of  the  men  was  transported 
by  motor  trucks.  One  muster  list  was  given  to  the 
Company  Commander  for  his  information,  and  another 
muster  list  and  the  transfer  cards  were  taken  up  by  the 
receiving  yeoman,  who  immediately  filed  the  cards  alpha- 
betically by  company.  In  addition  to  this  a  supplemen- 
tary card  muster  was  maintained  at  Regimental  Head- 
quarters. 

The  new  company  was  received  by  the  Regimental 
Adjutant,  the  Battalion  Commander,  the  Company  Com- 
mander and  his  Section  Chiefs,  and  the  Receiving  Yeo- 
man. The  men  were  marched  up  and  halted  in  front  of 
their  respective  barracks,  where  they  were  mustered  and 
the  necessary  Station  and  Regimental  Regulations  were 
read  to  them.  The  company  was  then  divided  into  two 
sections,  and  the  necessary  details  were  made  up  as  fol- 
lows :  One  sentry  in  each  section,  four  reliefs — a  total 
of  eight  men  per  twenty-four  hours ;  two  captains  of  the 
head — one  in  each  section  of  the  barracks;  seven  mess 
cooks — relieved  weekly;  two  jacks-of-the-dust — relieved 
weekly. 

The  training  in  the  Apprentice  Seamen  regiments 
covered  a  period  of  three  months,  as  a  general  rule. 
There  were  times,  however,  when  the  demands  for  men 
were  so  great  that  apprentice  seamen  had  to  be  trans- 
ferred to  sea  before  the  entire  period  was  completed. 
In  the  ordinary  course  of  events  the  men  were  given 


APPRENTICE  SEAMEN  REGIMENTS        95 

ten  days'  leave  when  they  finished  their  three  months' 
training.  The  principal  subjects  taught  the  seamen 
were  military  drill  and  seamanship.  The  latter  prob- 
ably made  the  greater  appeal  to  the  recruit  from  the 
Middle  West,  as  it  smacked  of  the  sea.  The  former,  al- 
though as  vitally  important  in  the  making  of  a  man-of- 
warsman,  was  not  so  distinctive.  When  one  thinks  of 
tying  knots,  splicing  ropes,  and  manning  boats,  one  nat- 
urally thinks  of  the  sailor.  It  is  the  backbone  of  all  that 
is  nautical. 

Every  seaman  at  Great  Lakes  received  a  thorough 
course  of  instruction  in  tying  all  the  kinds  of  knots  used 
at  sea.  He  learned  when  an  overhand  knot  should  be 
used  and  when  a  round  turn  was  appropriate.  He 
could  differentiate  between  a  Marlin  Hitch,  a  Clove 
Hitch,  and  a  Rolling  Hitch.  He  learned  to  converse  in 
the  terms  of  rope.  Before  he  finished  his  course  in 
marlinspike  seamanship  he  knew  how  to  tie  thirty-seven 
knots  and  to  make  twenty-four  kinds  of  splices. 

The  "Hemp  Course"  qualified  the  apprentice  seaman 
to  reproduce  the  following  knots,  hitches  and  bends,  and 
splices:  Overhand  knot;  figure  of  eight  knot;  square 
knot;  single  Becket  bend;  double  Becket  bend;  bowline; 
bowline  on  a  bight;  running  bowline;  ring  bowline; 
round  turn  and  two  half  hitches;  round  turn;  fisher- 
man's bend;  Marlin  hitch;  glove  hitch;  rolling  hitch; 
Marlin  spike  hitch;  studding  sail  tack  bend;  studding 
sail  halyard  bend;  timber  hitch;  longshoreman's  hitch; 
catspaw  in  end  of  a  line;  catspaw  in  bight  of  a  line; 
Blackwall  hitch;  single  and  double;  reeving  line  bend; 
sheep  shank;  sling  a  cask;  bale  sling;  rig  a  parbuckle; 
single  Carrick  bend;  double  Car  rick  bend;  knot  a  rope 
yarn;  pass  a  stopper;  pass  a  strop;  mouse  a  hook;  clap  a 


96 

jigger  on  a  rope;  belay  a  boat  fall;  take  a  turn  with  a 
hawser;  three-strand  eye  splice;  three-strand  short 
splice ;  four-strand  short  splice ;  back  splice ;  three-strand 
lone  splice;  four-strand  long  splice;  chain  splice;  wall; 
crown;  single  Mathew  Walker;  double  Mathew 
Walker;  man  rope  knot;  stopper  knot;  whipping 
(plain);  whipping  (sailmaker's)  flat  seizings;  round 
seizings;  racking  seizings;  throat  seizings;  worm  a 
rope;  parcel  a  rope;  serve  a  rope. 

The  importance  of  knowing  how  to  man  the  boat, 
coupled  with  the  shortage  of  cutters  for  use  in  the  har- 
bor and  lake,  resulted  in  the  construction  of  a  number 
of  unique  land  boats  for  use  in  the  apprentice  seamen 
regiments.  This  gave  the  men  in  these  regiments  an 
additional  opportunity  to  try  their  hand  at  the  oars. 
They  were  taught  how  to  enter  and  leave  the  boats, 
and  how  to  execute  the  different  commands,  such  as 
"Stand  by  the  oars,"  "Shove  off,"  "Out  oars,"  "Give 
way  together,"  "Toss  oars,"  etc. 

Signal  work  is  very  important  at  sea.  For  the  pur- 
pose of  signaling,  signal  bridges  were  built  on  the  roofs 
of  the  regimental  headquarters  buildings.  Each  bridge 
was  equipped  with  a  mast  and  yard  arm  for  hoisting 
signal  flags,  and  were  clearly  visible  above  the  tree  tops. 
Every  morning,  at  eight  o'clock,  the  signal  men  of  each 
regiment  climbed  to  the  bridge  to  receive  the  morning 
orders,  which  were  semaphored,  wigwagged,  or  sig- 
naled with  flags  from  the  Administration  Building. 
This  actual  work  with  the  signal  flags  lent  zest  to  the 
instruction  in  signaling,  and  was  watched  with  keen 
interest  by  every  man  in  training. 

The  daily  routine  of  training  in  the  apprentice  sea- 
men regiments  was  as  follows: 


APPRENTICE  SEAMEN  REGIMENTS        97 

5:00  a.  m.  Reveille  (Hit  the  Deck)  Lash  up  ham- 
mocks and  haul  taut. 

5:15  a.  m.  Bathing. 

5 :45  a.  m.  Send  out  morning  details,  police  barracks 
and  grounds. 

6:30  a.  m.  Physical  drill. 

6:45  a-  m-  Officers'  call. 

6:50  a.  m.  Assembly  for  Muster,  Inspection  and  Mess. 

7:30  a.  m.  Sick  call. 

7:45  a.  m.  Inspection  of  living  quarters  and  grounds 
by  Company  Commanders. 

7:50  a.  m.  Officers'  Call. 

§  :oo  a.  m.  Assembly  and  drill  call,  first  drill  period. 

9:00  a.  m.  Retreat  from  drill. 

9:15  a.  m.  Drill  call,  second  period. 

10:15  a.  m.  Retreat  from  second  drill  period. 

10:30  a.  m.  Drill  call,  third  period. 

1 1 :25  a.  m.  Retreat  from  third  drill  period.  All 
companies  to  march  to  drill  hall  for  doctor's  inspection. 

1 1 :3O  a.  m.  Reports  at  Mast. 

ii  :58  a.  m.  Officers'  call. 

12:00  Noon  Assembly  for  mess. 

12:30  p.  m.  Policing  living  quarters  and  grounds. 

12:58  p.  m.  Officers'  Call. 

i  :oo  p.  m.  Drill  call,  fourth  period  and  muster  for 
working  parties. 

2:15  p.  m.  Retreat  from  fourth  drill  period. 

2:30  p.  m.  Drill  call,  fifth  period. 

3:30  p.  m.  Retreat  from  fifth  drill  period.  Scrub 
clothes. 

5 :28  p.  m.  Officers'  call. 

5:30  p.  m.  Assembly  for  mess  (summer  months). 

6:30  p.  m.  Assembly  for  mess  (winter  months). 


98     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

7:00  p.  m.  Muster  and  hammocks  for  guard  company. 

7:45  p.  m.  Officers'  call.  Inspection  of  quarters  by 
Battalion  Officer  of  the  Day. 

7:50  p.  m.  Assembly  and  muster. 

8:00  p.  m.  Hammocks. 

8:55  p.  m.  First  call  for  tattoo. 

9  :oo  p.  m.  Tattoo. 

9:15  p.  m.  Taps. 

The  Instruction  Building  in  each  of  the  apprentice 
seamen  regiments  contained  five  large  class  rooms — 
an  ordnance  room,  signal  room,  rigging  loft,  and  two 
general  instruction  rooms,  one  of  which  was  used  par- 
ticularly for  instruction  in  first  aid  work.  All  of  these 
class  rooms  were  especially  fitted  up  for  instruction 
work.  The  following  description  of  the  instruction 
rooms  in  the  First  Regiment  will  suffice  for  those  in  all 
five  of  the  apprentice  seamen  regiments. 

The  Rigging  Loft  was  equipped  with  four  5O-ft. 
jackstays  for  practical  instruction  in  tying  knots,  hitches 
and  bends;  a  large  number  of  three  and  four-strand 
tails  for  instruction  in  splicing;  a  framework  with  car- 
locks  for  dry-oar  instruction  during  the  winter  months 
when  real  boats  could  not  be  used;  a  naval  standard 
compass;  leads  and  tools  for  practical  seamanship  work; 
a  davit  with  boat  falls  and  numerous  blocks  and  tackles 
for  the  purpose  of  teaching  the  men  how  to  hoist  and 
lower  boats  and  to  belay.  In  addition,  the  walls  of  the 
Rigging  Loft  were  covered  with  paintings  and  drawings 
of  ground  tackle;  parts  of  forecastle  with  capstans, 
anchors,  bitts ;  markings  of  the  cable,  lead  and  leadline ; 
chains  for  leadsman,  sounding  machines  of  various 
types;  different  logs  and  life  buoys;  a  compass  with 
points  and  degrees ;  a  sketch  of  bearings  and  lights ;  the 


APPRENTICE  SEAMEN  REGIMENTS        99 

buoyage  system  in  U.  S.  waters;  rules  of  the  road;  all 
types  of  boats  under  oars  and  sail;  and  the  rigs  of 
square-rigged  vessels.  The  Rigging  Loft  work  con- 
sisted of  making  knots,  bends,  and  splices;  the  use  of 
the  lead,  log  and  compass ;  steering,  running  lines,  hoist- 
ing and  lowering  boats,  throwing  heavy  lines,  hauling 
in  hawsers,  and  the  duties  of  the  lookout. 

The  Signal  Room  was  used  for  the  study  of  all  types 
of  signals  used  in  the  Navy,  including  day,  night  and 
sound  signals.  The  walls  of  this  room  were  decorated 
in  colors  with  all  signal  flags,  both  Navy  and  Interna- 
tional; the  ensigns  of  all  nations;  the  semaphore  and 
blinker  system  of  signaling,  showing  how  the  letters  of 
the  alphabet  are  formed ;  speed  signals ;  and  a  panorama 
of  a  battleship's  bridge  to  give  the  recruit  an  idea  of 
how  the  signaling  is  accomplished. 

The  Ordnance  Room  had  its  walls  covered  with  com- 
plete drawings  of  turrets,  guns,  mounts,  magazine  and 
handling  rooms;  various  types  of  breech  plugs,  shells 
and  ammunition;  enlarged  sketches  of  guns,  showing 
method  of  construction  and  details  of  the  built-up  sys- 
tem ;  telescopes  and  range-finders ;  sketches  of  the  differ- 
ent parts  of  a  Bliss-Leavitt  torpedo,  shown  in  detail; 
naval  defense  mines ;  different  types  of  fuses  and  prim- 
ers; powder-bag  charges  for  all  calibre  of  guns;  sil- 
houettes of  various  positions  to  be  taken  by  the  men  in 
firing  the  rifle,  and  a  large  oil  painting  showing  a  rapid 
fire  gun  and  crew  in  action.  It  was  also  equipped  with 
wall  boards  on  which  were  placed  the  disassembled  parts 
of  small  arms;  tripods  for  aiming  drill  and  Colt  and 
Lewis  machine  guns.  All  the  drawings  and  sketches 
were  used  to  illustrate  lectures.  The  ordnance  classes 
taught  the  men  how  gun  crews  are  stationed;  how  to 


ioo     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

handle  and  use  fuses,  primers  and  all  sorts  of  ammuni- 
tion ;  a  knowledge  of  the  different  types  of  guns,  mount- 
ings, etc.;  and  the  nomenclature  of  guns,  rifles  and 
revolvers. 

The  paintings  and  drawings  on  the  walls  of  the  Gen- 
eral Instruction  Room  showed  completely  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  compartments  of  a  modern  battleship;  a 
longitudinal  cross  section  of  the  U.  S.  S.  Nevada; 
silhouettes  of  all  other  types  of  naval  vessels;  complete 
illustrations  of  uniforms,  collar  insignias,  sleeve  marks,, 
shoulder  straps,  hatgear  and  rating  badges  of  officers 
and  enlisted  men  of  the  Navy,  Army  and  Marine  Corps ; 
the  markings  of  steam,  air,  oil,  fresh  and  salt  water 
pipes  of  naval  ships;  and  tables  containing  regulations, 
general  orders,  and  the  rendering  of  various  salutes 
and  military  honors. 

The  First  Aid  Instruction  Room  had  drawings  upon 
its  walls  illustrating  the  methods  of  rendering  first  aid 
to  the  injured;  large  charts  of  the  human  anatomy,  such 
as  the  skeleton  with  the  names  of  the  principal  bones  in 
the  body;  a  chart  illustrating  blood  circulation;  draw- 
ings showing  how  to  apply  the  tourniquet  to  arrest 
hemorrhage  in  various  parts  of  the  body;  drawings  il- 
lustrating the  use  of  bandages  for  shell  and  shot 
wounds;  the  methods  of  conveying  wounded  men;  re- 
suscitation of  the  apparently  drowned;  the  rescue  of 
helpless  men  from  the  water,  showing  method  of 
breaking  various  death  grips ;  and  charts  showing  vari- 
ous poisonings  and  the  treatments  therefor. 

The  textbooks  used  for  instruction  purposes  in- 
cluded the  "Blue  jackets'  Manual,"  the  "Deck  and  Boat 
Book,"  the  "Recruits'  Handy  Book,"  "Modern  Sea- 
manship," and  the  "American  Ordnance  Book." 


APPRENTICE  SEAMEN  REGIMENTS      101 

The  men  in  the  apprentice  seamen  regiments  re- 
ceived particular  instruction  in  the  handling  and  care 
of  small  arms,  and  were  put  through  the  regular  Navy 
course  of  rifle  shooting  at  the  rifle  range. 

A  weekly  report  was  sent  to  the  Drill  Officer  showing 
the  number  of  hours  devoted  in  each  company  to  the 
following  subjects :  Boats,  marlinspike  seamanship,  first 
aid,  artillery,  company  drill,  general  drill,  signals,  range, 
physical  drill,  battalion  formation,  heavy  marching  or- 
der, and  position,  aiming  and  gallery. 

The  number  of  hours  devoted  to  instruction  in  the 
different  subjects  during  the  three-months  course,  as 
shown  by  the  records  of  the  First  Regiment,  was  as  fol- 
lows: Company  drill,  165  hours;  Battalion  drill,  20 
hours ;  First  aid,  9  hours ;  Loading  and  firing,  9  hours ; 
Rifle  Range,  9  hours;  Heavy  marching  order,  6  hours; 
Ordnance,  13  hours;  Boats,  30  hours;  Marlinspike  sea- 
manship, 50  hours;  Discipline  and  duty  and  ship  rou- 
tine, 34  hours;  Signals,  34  hours;  Bag  inspection,  20 
hours;  Hammock  inspection,  20  hours;  Physical  drill, 
39  hours. 

Mast  was  held  every  morning  at  1 1 130  o'clock  before 
the  Commanding  Officer  of  each  regiment.  All  men 
were  allowed  to  present  their  requests  for  special  leave, 
change  in  rating,  transfer  to  various  schools,  etc.  This 
gave  every  man  an  opportunity  for  fair  treatment. 

Visitors  were  allowed  in  the  apprentice  seamen  regi- 
ments on  Wednesday  afternoons  and  on  Sundays.  The 
men  in  training  were  given  twelve  hours  of  liberty  each 
week-end.  After  the  review  each  Wednesday  after- 
noon the  men  were  allowed  the  liberty  of  the  camp. 

The  First  Regiment  was  organized  as  a  unit  for  the 
training  of  apprentice  seamen  in  May,  1917,  and  during 


102     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

the  spring  and  summer  of  that  year  was  located  in  tents, 
forming  part  of  Camp  Paul  Jones.  Exclusive  of  the 
Main  Station  Regiment,  which  later  became  the  Fourth 
Regiment,  this  was  the  first  regiment  established  fol- 
lowing the  declaration  of  war.  During  the  war  period 
it  trained  approximately  17,000  men.  The  regimental 
commander  was  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  A.  O.  Schory.  His 
adjutant  was  Ensign  Rudolph  Winzer.  In  the  late 
summer  of  1918  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Burmain  A.  Grim- 
ball,  Ensign  Cedric  O.  Eaton,  Ensign  David  R.  Knape 
and  Ensign  V.  F.  Wright  were  also  attached  to  the 
First  Regiment. 

The  Second  Regiment,  organized  in  May,  1917,  and 
located  in  Camp  Paul  Jones,  was  at  first  a  firemen  regi- 
ment, but,  as  these  men  were  transferred  to  sea  and 
apprentice  seamen  came  in,  its  character  changed. 
From  the  early  summer  of  1917  to  the  close  of  the  war 
its  activity  had  to  do  with  the  training  of  apprentice 
seamen.  Approximately  16,000  men  passed  through 
this  regiment.  Lieutenant  H.  Vanderwerp,  U.  S.  N., 
R.  F.,  was  its  first  regimental  commander.  In  Septem- 
ber, 1917,  Ensign  R.  T.  Whitney,  U.  S.  N.,  R.  F.,  re- 
lieved Lieutenant  Vanderwerp,  and  a  couple  of  months 
later  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  J.  Reid,  U.  S.  N.,  at  that  time  a 
gunner,  became  regimental  commander.  Just  before 
the  armistice  was  signed  the  Battalion  Commanders 
were  Ensign  S.  P.  Swynenburg  and  Ensign  J.  C.  Wil- 
kins. 

The  Third  Regiment,  organized  at  the  same  time  as 
the  First  and  Second  Regiments,  and  located  with  them 
in  Camp  Paul  Jones  until  all  three  moved  into  Camp 
Dewey  in  the  fall  of  1917,  also  trained  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  16,000  men.  Its  first  regimental  commander 


APPRENTICE  SEAMEN  REGIMENTS       103 

was  Lieutenant  Fisher,  of  the  National  Naval  Volun- 
teers. In  July,  1917,  Lieutenant  Fisher  was  succeeded 
by  Ensign  Halpine,  with  Ensign  Eschom  U.  S.  N.,  R.  F., 
as  his  adjutant.  While  in  command  of  the  Third  Regi- 
ment, Ensign  Halpine  was  advanced  in  rank  to  lieuten- 
ant, junior  grade.  In  September,  1917,  Lieutenant 
Halpine  and  Ensign  Eschom  were  detached,  and  Ensign 
Peck  assumed  command,  with  Ensign  Walter  P.  Hanson 
as  his  Adjutant.  On  November  15,  Ensign  W.  P.  Jost, 
National  Naval  Volunteers,  assumed  command.  Early 
in  January,  1918,  Ensign  Jost  was  detached  from  the 
regiment  to  take  charge  of  the  Detail  Office  in  the  Ad- 
ministration Building,  and  Gunner  W.  J.  Roseman  suc- 
ceeded Ensign  Jost.  In  May,  1918,  Gunner  Roseman 
was  advanced  to  the  ranking  of  ensign,  and  a  few 
months  later  was  made  a  lieutenant  junior  grade. 
Boatswain  W.  J.  Mielka  was  Adjutant.  Lieutenant 
(j*  §"•)  James  C.  Humphrey  was  attached  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1918. 

The  Fourth  Regiment  became  one  of  the  apprentice 
seamen  regiments  of  Camp  Perry  in  October,  1917. 
This  regiment  was  known  as  the  Main  Station  Regi- 
ment or  Main  Brigade  during  the  first  several  months 
of  the  war.  The  Fourth  Regiment  trained  approxi- 
mately 18,000  men.  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  L.  J.  Sutton 
was  Regimental  Commander,  Ensign  F.  G.  Saunders, 
Regimental  Sub-Commander,  and  Gunner  J.  A.  Kruz- 
burg,  Regimental  Adjutant. 

The  Fifth  Regiment  was  organized  in  November, 
1917,  with  Gunner  Walter  McGuire,  U.  S.  N.,  R.  F.,  as 
Regimental  Commander.  On  January  10,  1918,  Lieu- 
tenant (j.  g.)  Laurie  C.  Parfitt,  U.  S.  N.,  relieved  Gun- 
ner McGuire  as  Regimental  Commander.  Lieutenant 


io4     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

(j.  g.)  Leslie  K.  Orr  was  Regimental  Adjutant,  and 
Ensign  Arthur  A.  Sayre  and  Ensign  O.  Y.  Shute  were 
Battalion  Commanders.  The  average  daily  comple- 
ment of  this  regiment  by  months,  from  November  1917 
to  November  1918,  was  as  follows:  November,  428; 
December,  1095;  January,  1468;  February,  1420; 
March,  1345;  April,  960;  May,  1241;  June,  1904;  July, 
1925;  August,  2118;  September,  1500;  October,  1490. 

OUTGOING    DETENTION 

"Shoving  off"  from  Great  Lakes  to  man  the  fighting 
ships  was  a  procedure  which  held  more  than  ordinary 
interest  to  the  average  recruit;  the  very  air  of  the  Out- 
going Detention  camp  was  charged  with  an  indescrib- 
able something  that  was  not  to  be  found  elsewhere.  To 
be  transferred  to  this  camp  meant  that  the  young  man- 
of-warsman  would  soon  find  himself  aboard  ship,  the 
first  big  step  of  his  career  as  a  sea  fighter  accomplished. 

Outgoing  Detention  was  in  many  respects  the  emo- 
tional center  of  Great  Lakes.  Mothers,  fathers,  sis- 
ters, sweethearts,  wives  were  allowed  in  this  camp  every 
day  of  the  week  from  morning  until  4:30  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon,  which  gave  them  ample  opportunity  to  visit 
the  sailors  before  their  departure. 

Every  man  who  "shoved  off"  from  Great  Lakes  had 
first  to  pass  through  Outgoing  Detention.  They  were 
sent  to  this  camp  singly  or  in  groups,  and  were  required 
to  stay  there  for  a  period  sufficient  to  allow  complete 
medical  observation  and  isolation. 

"Jack"  was  ushered  into  Outgoing  Detention  with  his 
sea  bag  and  hammock,  and  a  station  duplicate  card 
verifying  his  name,  rating,  organization,  etc.  He  was 
thoroughly  examined  by  the  medical  staff,  and,  if  the 


APPRENTICE  SEAMEN  REGIMENTS      105 

slightest  defect  was  discovered,  he  was  returned  to  his 
regiment  as  unfit.  If  in  perfect  physical  and  mental 
condition,  he  was  assigned  to  a  company,  and  his  sea 
bag  and  hammock  were  inspected.  In  the  event  that 
he  lacked  any  of  the  various  articles  that  make  up  a 
complete  sea  bag,  he  was  at  once  outfitted  with  them, 
and  he  had  to  see  to  it  that  every  piece  of  his  wearing 
apparel  was  properly  stenciled.  Infantry  and  artillery 
drill;  the  marking  and  re-marking  of  clothing,  with  lib- 
eral time  given  for  scrubbing ;  medical  inspections  every 
day ;  and  bidding  good-by  to  relatives  and  sweethearts — 
sometimes  a  different  one  every  day — constituted  the 
main  program  while  in  Outgoing  Detention. 

After  the  men  had  been  given  what  was  considered 
a  sufficient  period  of  isolation,  they  were  written  up  on 
a  draft.  The  number  of  men  in  these  drafts  ranged 
anywhere  from  one  to  one  thousand.  The  moment  a 
man  was  written  up  on  a  draft  the  Transfer  Depart- 
ment of  the  Detail  Office  got  busy  and  cheeked  up  his 
account,  and  health  and  service  records.  The  number 
of  drafts  "shoved  off"  during  1918  was  2495,  made  up 
of  71,440  men,  an  average  of  about  thirty-three  men 
to  a  draft.  The  majority  of  the  seamen  trained  at 
Great  Lakes  were  sent  to  the  naval  operating  base  at 
Hampton  Roads.  The  men  for  general  detail  were 
sent  to  Philadelphia.  During  one  of  the  exceptionally 
busy  periods  in  May,  1918,  a  request  was  received  for 
1700  men  for  immediate  service  aboard  ship,  1200  of 
whom  were  to  be  second  class  seamen.  Within  twelve 
hours  after  the  order  was  received  the  1,700  men  were 
on  their  way  east. 

During  1917  and  the  first  six  months  of  1918,  Out1- 
going  Detention  known  as  the  Tenth  Regiment,  was 


io6     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

located  in  Camp  Ross,  which  was  hardly  adequate  for 
the  purpose,  as  it  consisted  of  only  one  regimental  unit. 
Early  in  the  spring  of  1918,  however,  construction  was 
commenced  on  three  Outgoing  Detention  units  to  be 
known  as  Camp  Luce,  and,  when  the  first  two  of  these 
units  were  completed,  Camp  Ross  became  an  additional 
Incoming  Detention  Unit. 

The  first  of  the  Outgoing  Detention  units  to  be  com- 
pleted in  Camp  Luce  was  known  as  the  Sixteenth  Regi- 
ment. It  was  ready  for  occupancy  the  latter  part  of 
July,  1918,  when  five  hundred  men  were  moved  into 
it  from  Camp  Ross.  During  the  two  months  and  a 
half  that  this  regiment  was  in  operation  before  the 
armistice  was  signed,  more  than  14,000  men  were  passed 
through  it  into  the  Seventeenth  Regiment,  which  was 
the  final  Outgoing  Detention  unit. 

The  length  of  time  spent  by  the  men  in  the  Sixteenth 
Regiment  varied  according  to  the  demands  made  upon 
Great  Lakes  by  the  Receiving  Ships  on  the  eastern  sea- 
board. Some  men  spent  as  much  as  a  month's  time  in 
the  regiment,  while  others  had  as  short  a  stay  as  four 
days.  Week-end  liberty  was  granted  up  to  the  time  the 
men  were  written  on  a  draft. 

The  Regimental  Commander  was  Gunner  Claude 
Miller,  U.  S.  N.,  who  had  been  one  of  Ensign  P.  B. 
Riley's  assistants  when  the  latter  was  Regimental  Com- 
mander of  Camp  Ross. 

The  actual  "Good-by,  Jack"  unit  of  Outgoing  Deten- 
tion was  the  Seventeenth  Regiment,  established  on  Au- 
gust 14,  1918.  This  unit  was  absolutely  self-contained, 
having  its  own  sick  bay,  dental  office,  laundry,  ships' 
store,  armory,  galley,  post  office,  barber  shop,  etc.,  which 
made  it  unnecessary  for  any  of  the  men  to  leave  it  for 


APPRENTICE  SEAMEN  REGIMENTS       107 

any  purpose  whatsoever.  A  spur  of  the  Chicago  & 
Northwestern  Railroad  was  run  into  this  camp  so  that 
the  men  could  be  entrained  without  having  to  march 
any  distance.  No  liberty  was  granted  to  the  men  after 
they  were  received  in  the  Seventeenth  Regiment,  but 
they  were  allowed  to  see  visitors  every  day. 

The  Seventeenth  Regiment  was  organized  into  thirty- 
four  companies,  which  included  the  regimental  band  of 
eighty  pieces,  two  permanent  guard  companies,  and  a 
company  made  up  of  the  operating  force. 

During  the  three  months  this  Outgoing  Detention  unit 
was  in  operation  before  the  signing  of  the  armistice  it 
received  and  transferred  approximately  27,000  men  to 
general  service.  This  was  an  average  of  three  hundred 
men  per  day,  and  a  considerable  accomplishment 
considering  that  during  much  of  this  time  a  state  of 
quarantine  existed,  due  to  the  influenza  epidemic  which 
reduced  transfers  to  a  minimum. 

The  first  Regimental  Commander  of  the  Seventeenth 
Regiment  was  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  M.  T.  Wilkerson, 
U.  S.  N.,  who  was  transferred  to  the  Officer  Material 
School  a  few  weeks  later  to  act  as  an  instructor.  Lieu- 
tenant (j.  g.)  J.  G.  McFarland,  who  was  in  charge  of 
the  Gunners'  Mates  School  until  October  I,  1918,  suc- 
ceeded Lieutenant  Wilkerson.  The  regimental  drill 
officer  was  Ensign  F.  C.  Scheid,  U.  S.  N. 

Ensign  P.  B.  Riley,  U.  S.  N.,  who  was  officer  in 
charge  of  Camp  Ross  when  that  camp  was  the  Out- 
going Detention  unit,  became  commanding  officer  of 
Camp  Luce.  His  adjutant  was  Ensign  W.  A.  Krueck, 
U.  S.  N. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE   SPECIAL   SCHOOLS 

PRECEDING  chapters  tell  of  the  astounding 
growth  of  Great  Lakes  as  a  whole — the  result  of 
super-organization,  super-training  under  condi- 
tions frequently  disheartening,  and  almost  superhuman 
tenacity  of  purpose. 

When  war  was  declared  and  word  was  passed  to 
Great  Lakes  to  "Go !"  Great  Lakes  fairly  sprinted.  An 
aggressive  spirit  of  "Go!"  and  "Grow!"  backed  by  a 
remarkable  ingenuity  in  the  improvising  of  ways  and 
means  of  overcoming  obstacles,  permeated  the  entire 
Station.  And  nowhere  was  this  more  strongly  evinced 
than  in  the  special  schools  organized  to  turn  out  Com- 
pany Commanders,  Coxswains,  Quartermasters,  Gun- 
ners' Mates,  Armed  Guards  to  man  the  merchant  ma- 
rine, Radio  Operators,  Artificers,  Signalmen,  Hospital 
Corpsmen ;  Aviation  Quartermasters,  Machinists'  Mates 
and  Armorers;  Ensigns  for  the  Naval  Reserve  Force, 
and  Aviation  Officers. 

Intensive  courses  of  study  were  given  in  all  these 
schools,  the  courses  varying  according  to  the  nature  of 
the  work,  and,  in  some  cases,  to  the  aptitude  of  the 
students. 

In  each  school  the  underlying  policy  was  to  teach  the 
"why"  as  well  as  the  "how." 

There  is  no  question  but  that  these  schools  gave  the 
"gob"  at  Great  Lakes  a  wonderful  chance  for  rapid 

108 


THE  SPECIAL  SCHOOLS  109 

advancement.  The  opportunity  fairly  stared  him  in  the 
face  from  the  moment  he  arrived  on  the  Station,  and 
no  sooner  was  he  out  of  Incoming  Detention  than  he 
became  eligible  to  compete  for  and  obtain  admittance 
to  any  one  of  the  special  schools. 

The  only  qualification  the  recruit  required  to  find  the 
opportunity  for  advancement  handed  out  to  him  on  a 
silver  platter  was  a  willingness  and  an  ability  to  learn 
a  little  more  quickly  than  the  majority  of  his  shipmates. 

But  it  must  not  be  supposed  from  all  this  that  the 
men  at  Great  Lakes  ran  up  against  anything  easy.  In 
fact  the  situation  was  just  the  opposite.  The  men  who 
got  through  successfully  had  to  work  with  a  sincerity, 
a  steadfastness  of  purpose,  and  a  bulldog  tenacity  that 
would  fill  any  university  faculty  in  the  country  with 
envy.  They  were  able  to  succeed  only  because  their 
instructors  were  particularly  enthusiastic  and  capable; 
because  the  very  nature  of  the  work — requiring  physi- 
cal as  well  as  mental  exercise — made  for  clear-headed- 
ness, and  because  the  rule  at  Great  Lakes  was  "early  to 
bed  and  early  to  rise." 

The  ordinary  reward  was  advancement  to  a  petty  of- 
ficer rating  which  ordinarily  would  have  required  sev- 
eral years  of  service  on  board  ship.  But  this  was  not 
all.  For  the  young  man  who  entered  Great  Lakes,  not 
with  the  idea  of  seeking  special  preferment,  but  with 
an  itch  to  give  the  best  he  had  in  him  where  most 
needed,  obtained  an  opportunity,  after  becoming  a  petty 
officer  and  demonstrating  exceptional  ability  as  such, 
to  study  and  obtain  a  commission  as  an  ensign. 

Previous  to  the  declaration  of  war  there  were  only 
two  special  schools  in  existence  at  Great  Lakes — the 
Signal  and  Radio  School,  and  the  Hospital  Corps 


no     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

Training  School.  The  first  school  established  because 
of  the  war  emergency  was  the  Instruction  Camp  for 
Company  Commanders. 

All  the  special  schools,  with  the  exception  of  the  Of- 
ficer Material  School,  were  formed  into  regiments. 
The  Hospital  Corps  Training  School  and  the  Yeoman 
School  comprised  the  Sixth  Regiment;  the  Radio 
School,  the  Seventh  Regiment;  the  Armed  Guard,  Gun- 
ners' Mates,  Coxswain,  Quartermaster,  and  Signal 
schools,  the  Eleventh  Regiment;  and  the  Aviation 
schools,  the  Fifteenth  Regiment. 

THE    INSTRUCTION    CAMP    FOR    COMPANY 
COMMANDERS 

This  school,  established  soon  after  the  declaration  of 
war  because  competent  petty  officers  were  scarce  and 
invaluable,  was  under  the  direct  command  of  Lieuten- 
ant Ralph  M.  Jaeger,  who  later  became  assistant  to  the 
Station's  Executive  Officer.  His  assistant  instructors 
were  Gunner  "Jack"  Kennedy — one-time  champion 
boxer  of  the  Atlantic  Fleet — and  Boatswain  M.  T. 
Wilkerson,  both  of  whom  were  later  advanced  to  com- 
missioned officer  ranks  in  the  regular  Navy. 

The  course  of  instruction  in  this  school,  the  purpose 
of  which  was  to  fit  men  to  act  as  Company  Commanders 
for  the  training  of  the  recruits  who  were  passing 
through  Great  Lakes,  did  not  cover  any  set  period  of 
weeks  or  months.  As  soon  as  a  student  in  this  school 
proved  that  he  had  absorbed  the  instruction,  and,  in 
turn,  had  become  capable  of  giving  instruction,  he  was 
placed  in  charge  of  a  company  of  apprentice  seamen. 
The  subjects  he  had  to  master  and  then  teach  to  the  re- 
cruits were:  Infantry  drill;  physical  drill  with  and 


THE  SPECIAL  SCHOOLS  in 

without  arms ;  nomenclature  of  the  rifle,  automatic  pis- 
tol, and  field  piece ;  the  manual  of  guard  duty ;  the  bugle 
calls;  the  handling  of  boats  under  oars  and  sail;  mar- 
linspike  seamanship;  deck  seamanship;  a  thorough 
working  knowledge  of  the  compass,  log  and  lead;  the 
sending  and  receiving  of  signals;  range  practice  with 
the  rifle  and  the  automatic  pistol;  position  and  aiming 
drills;  the  operation  of  a  3-inch  field  piece,  and  first  aid. 
The  Instruction  camp  for  Company  Commanders  was 
discontinued  early  in  1918,  as  a  sufficient  number  of 
men  had  been  trained  for  this  work.  During  the  period 
of  its  activity,  however,  it  turned  out  several  hundred 
competent  Company  Commanders,  more  than  a  hundred 
of  whom  qualified  later  for  commissions  as  ensigns. 

THE  GUNNERS'  MATES  SCHOOL 

The  Gunners'  Mates  School  was  organized  in  Au- 
gust, 1917,  by  direction  of  Captain  W.  A.  Moffett,  on 
orders  from  the  Bureau  of  Navigation.  Its  purpose 
was  to  train  men  from  the  various  regiments  for  Petty 
Officer  material.  In  order  to  be  eligible  for  this  school 
a  man  had  to  be  in  the  Seaman  Branch  of  the  Service, 
although  Machinists'  Mates  and  Firemen,  third  class, 
showing  particular  mechanical  ability,  were  allowed  to 
take  the  course.  A  Gunners'  Mate  on  a  modern  war- 
ship, with  its  complicated  gun  mechanism  and  electrical 
installation,  had  to  be  a  fairly  good  mechanic  and  show 
marked  ability  in  a  mechanical  line. 

The  course  of  instruction  in  this  school  covered  a 
period  of  two  months,  and  included  the  following  sub- 
jects: First  week,  care  and  preservation  of  ordnance 
material,  small  arms,  and  machine  guns;  second  week, 
guns,  mounts,  and  breech  mechanism;  third  week, 


ii2     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

sights,  sighting,  sight  installation,  bore  sighting,  and 
telescopes;  fourth  week,  turrets  and  turret  mounts,  in- 
cluding electric  apparatus  used  in  turrets;  fifth  week, 
ammunition — its  manufacture,  care  and  preservation, 
and  stowage  in  magazines  on  board  ship;  sixth  week, 
projectiles,  weights  of  bursting  charges,  fuses,  primers 
and  safety  precautions,  hang-fires  and  misfires;  seventh 
week,  torpedoes,  mines,  gun  cotton  and  other  explosives 
used  in  the  U.  S.  Navy;  eighth  week,  fire  control  and 
review  of  first  seven  weeks. 

When  the  school  was  organized,  it  was  practically 
impossible  to  obtain  a  sufficient  supply  of  regulation 
Navy  books  such  as  Ship  and  Gun  Drills,  Ordnance 
and  Gunnery,  and  other  standard  books.  In  order  to 
overcome  this  difficulty  the  Ordnance  Officer,  Lieutenant 
John  Ronan,  U.  S.  N.,  collected  data  and  compiled  and 
had  printed,  with  the  approval  of  the  Commandant  and 
the  Navy  Department,  an  ordnance  text  book  known  as 
"Ordnance  Instruction  Book,  Gunners'  Mates  School, 
Great  Lakes  Naval  Training  Station,  1917."  Two 
thousand  copies  of  this  book  were  printed  at  the  time. 
The  book  was  later  revised,  and  an  additional  2000 
copies  printed.  The  book  was  likewise  adopted  by  the 
Navy  Department  for  use  at  other  naval  training  sta- 
tions. 

The  students  in  the  Gunners'  Mates  School  were  also 
given  practical  work  in  the  assembling  and  disassem- 
bling of  guns,  mounts,  small  arms,  machine  guns,  tor- 
pedoes, mines,  counter  mines,  mine  sweeping,  and  also 
the  use  of  the  depth  charge  and  smoke-producing  ap- 
paratus. 

During  the  summer  months  half  of  the  period  of 
instruction  was  on  board  the  vessels  of  the  Great  Lakes 


THE  SPECIAL  SCHOOLS  113 

Training  Squadron,  where  target  practice  was  carried 
out  under  regular  service  conditions. 

From  the  time  the  school  was  established  to  the  sign- 
ing of  the  armistice  more  than  1800  men  were  gradu- 
ated and  sent  to  the  fighting  ships  as  Gunners'  Mates. 

The  Gunners'  Mates  School  was  under  the  general 
supervision  of  Lieutenant  John  Ronan,  the  Ordnance 
Officer.  The  chief  instructors  were  Lieutenant  (j.  g.) 
J.  G.  McFarland  and  Ensign  Paul  S.  Drake. 

THE   ARMED   GUARD   SCHOOL 

The  Armed  Guard  School,  also  under  the  super- 
vision of  Lieutenant  John  Ronan,  was  established  in 
December,  1917,  to  train  complete  gun  crews  for  the 
arming  of  transports  and  the  merchant  marine. 

In  order  to  be  eligible  for  this  school  a  man  had  to 
be  in  the  Seaman  Branch  of  the  Service  and  have  com- 
pleted three  months  training  on  the  Station.  To  qual- 
ify for  the  position  of  Gun  Captain,  Gun  Pointer,  or 
Sight  Setter,  a  man  had  to  show  exceptional  ability. 
The  other  stations,  such  as  shell  man,  powder  man,  and 
loaders,  required  men  of  good  build  and  strength. 

The  course  of  instruction  covered  a  period  of  one 
month  and  included  the  following  subjects :  First  week, 
care  and  preservation  of  ordnance  material,  small  arms 
and  machine  guns;  nomenclature,  assembling  and  dis- 
assembling; target  practice  with  small  arms  and  ma- 
chine guns;  second  week,  guns  and  gun  construction; 
breech  mechanism  and  gun  mounts;  firing  mechanism, 
locks  and  attachments;  recoil  system;  methods  of  over- 
hauling and  preparing  battery  for  firing;  training  and 
elevating  gears;  loading  drill,  dotters,  sub-caliber  at- 
tachments, check  telescope  drills,  sights  and  sight  set- 


n4     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

ting;  third  week,  ammunition,  its  manufacture,  care 
and  preservation;  inspection  and  stowage  of  ammuni- 
tion on  board  ship;  fuses  and  primers;  projectiles; 
depth  charge  and  smoke  producing  apparatus;  how  to 
set  combination  shrapnel  fuse;  gun-cotton  and  other 
explosives  used  in  the  U.  S.  Navy;  fourth  week,  fire 
control ;  use  of  range  finder  and  spotting  glasses ;  actual 
target  practice  with  three-pounder  and  three-inch  bat- 
tery from  gun  shed  on  shore  of  Lake  Michigan; 
wrinkles  of  anti-submarine  warfare. 

In  addition  to  the  above,  each  man  was  required  to 
thoroughly  familiarize  himself  with  the  silhouette  out- 
lines and  descriptions  of  German  submarines  of  various 
types.  This  included  submarines  on  the  surface,  partly 
submerged,  awash,  and  fully  submerged  with  the  peri- 
scope showing,  particular  stress  being  given  to  detecting 
the  wake  of  the  submarine  by  day  and  by  night.  It  was 
also  required  that  each  man  be  familiar  with  and  able 
to  detect  the  wake  of  a  torpedo  traveling  through  the 
water. 

Men  were  qualified  in  this  course  according  to  their 
ability  as  gun  captains,  gun  pointers,  and  other  gun  sta- 
tions. An  entry  was  made  in  their  enlistment  records, 
before  they  left  Great  Lakes  showing  their  qualifications. 
Men  with  qualifications  as  gun  captains,  gun  pointers, 
and  sight  setters,  were  issued  gunnery  records,  which 
entitled  them  to  extra  pay  in  the  rating  they  were  given. 

Actual  target  practice,  both  by  day  and  by  night, 
was  engaged  in  by  all  the  men  who  went  through  the 
course.  The  guns  were  located  in  a  gun  shed  on  the 
shore  of  Lake  Michigan,  and  targets  representing  sub- 
marines were  placed  out  in  the  lake  and  shot  at. 

After  completing  the  course  of  instruction  in  this 


Bluejacket  Signalmen  on  the  Bridge  of  a  Regimental  Headquarters'  Building 

Practice  in  the  "  Dry  Land  Boats " 

"  Deck  Seamanship  "  Practice 


Gunners'  Mates  Practising  Loading 
Ready  for  Cutter  Practice  Cutter  Drill 


THE  SPECIAL  SCHOOLS  115 

school,  the  men  were  grouped  in  gun  crews  of  eight 
each  and  sent  to  the  Armed  Guard  bases  along  the 
eastern  seaboard.  From  these  points  they  were  trans- 
ferred to  vessels  of  the  fleet  for  further  intensive  train- 
ing before  being  assigned  to  Armed  Guard  duty. 

The  gun  crews  trained  at  Great  Lakes  proved  their 
ability  in  many  instances  in  actual  combat  with  German 
submarines.  More  than  1,600  men  were  graduated 
from  the  school  during  the  war  period. 

The  chief  instructors  in  the  Armed  Guard  School 
were  Gunner  Charles  Avery,  and  Gunner  J.  L.  Hiatt. 

THE    COXSWAIN    SCHOOL 

The  Coxswain  School  was  organized  in  August,  1917, 
with  Ensign  George  Fagan  as  Officer  in  Charge,  and 
Boatswain  F.  H.  Quandt,  later  a  lieutenant  junior 
grade,  as  Chief  Instructor. 

The  course  of  study  covered  two  months,  and  in- 
cluded such  subjects  as:  The  handling  of  small  boats 
under  all  conditions  and  circumstances;  tactical  exer- 
cises in  small  boats ;  beaching  or  landing  through  a  surf ; 
the  duties  of  a  Coxswain  as  given  in  the  Boat  Book ;  the 
cleanliness  of  boats;  the  steering  effect  of  the  propeller; 
the  carrying  out  of  anchors;  a  knowledge  of  storm  sig- 
nals, distress  signals,  and  signals  for  pilot ;  the  lowering 
and  hoisting  of  boats  under  various  conditions  of 
weather ;  a  practical  knowledge  of  deck  seamanship,  in- 
cluding a  knowledge  of  mooring  ship;  the  sending  and 
receiving  of  wig-wag  and  semaphore  signals;  marlin- 
spike  seamanship;  and  complete  instruction  in  infantry 
and  artillery  drill. 

The  school  was  divided  into  three  companies.  The 
beginners  were  placed  in  Company  C  for  a  period  of 


n6     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

three  weeks,  after  which  the  best  of  them  were  ad- 
vanced to  Company  B,  and  finally  to  Company  A.  Dur- 
ing the  summer  months  the  classes  were  conducted  in 
the  open  air.  The  equipment  used  for  instruction  con- 
sisted of  the  cutters  and  various  other  small  boats  in 
the  Great  Lakes'  harbor,  and  special  kinds  of  tackle  and 
other  equipment  located  in  the  school  classrooms  and  in 
the  rigging  lofts.  In  the  spring  of  1918  a  three-weeks' 
cruise  on  the  training  ships  of  the  Great  Lakes'  Squad- 
ron was  added  to  the  two-months'  course  of  study  on 
shore  and  in  small  boats. 

The  Coxswain  School  graduated  1275  men  and  trans- 
ferred them  to  sea. 

THE  QUARTERMASTERS'  SCHOOL 
The  Quartermasters'  School  was  established  in  Au- 
gust, 1917,  to  take  picked  men  from  the  apprentice  sea- 
men companies  and  give  them  advanced  instruction  in 
the  duties  of  a  quartermaster  on  board  ship.  Lieuten- 
ant (j.  g.)  F.  M.  Kelley  was  in  charge  of  the  school  the 
greater  part  of  its  existence. 

To  gain  entrance  to  this  school  a  man  had  to  have  a 
fundamental  knowledge  of  all  the  signals  used  in  the 
Navy,  be  able  to  box  the  compass,  and  to  know  the  lead 
line.  Preference  was  given  to  high  school  graduates. 

The  period  of  the  course  was  eight  weeks,  and  the 
students  received  instruction  in  the  following  subjects: 
The  general  duties  of  quartermasters;  the  log  and  the 
entries  therein;  the  work  of  a  lookout;  the  hailing  of 
boats  at  night ;  a  general  knowledge  of  the  duties  of  the 
officer  of  the  deck;  weather  and  storms;  storm  signals; 
flags,  signals  and  ceremonies;  chronometers  and  the 
duties  of  a  quartermaster  in  connection  therewith;  the 


THE  SPECIAL  SCHOOLS  117 

barometer ;  use  of  the  drift  lead  and  sounding  machines ; 
and  how  to  conn  and  instruct  seamen  at  the  wheel. 

During  the  summer  months  the  men  in  this  school 
were  all  given  three  weeks  of  instruction  on  board  the 
Great  Lakes  Training  Squadron.  The  graduates  were 
850  in  number. 

THE   SIGNAL   SCHOOL 

This  school  was  established  three  months  before  the 
declaration  of  war  as  the  Signal  and  Radio  School.  On 
May  i,  1917,  however,  a  separation  took  place,  and  the 
radio  branch  became  a  distinct  organization. 

With  the  declaration  of  war  the  number  of  signalmen 
in  training  jumped  from  forty  to  two  hundred.  As  no 
quarters  were  available  in  barracks  at  that  time,  the 
school  was  located  in  tents  at  one  corner  of  the  main 
drill  field.  Classes  were  held  in  the  open.  Blinker 
tubes  were  rigged  on  the  drill  field  for  use  both  day  and 
night.  The  mast  on  the  north  side  of  the  drill  field  was 
used  for  flag  hoist  drill. 

On  October  i,  1917,  the  school  was  moved  into  bar- 
racks in  the  Seventh  Regiment.  One  end  of  each  bar- 
racks was  used  as  a  classroom,  and  blinkers  and  buzzers 
were  rigged  in  each.  Charts  showing  all  code  and  spe- 
cial meaning  flags  were  made  and  used  in  classwork. 
The  course  at  that  time  extended  over  a  period  of  three 
months,  and  covered  all  the  different  methods  of  signal- 
ing used  in  the  Navy. 

Early  in  1918  the  Signal  School  was  transferred  back 
on  to  the  Main  Station,  and  the  course  was  changed  to 
eight  weeks,  to  conform  with  the  orders  of  the  Bureau 
of  Navigation. 

To  qualify  for  duty  the  men  of  this  school  had  to  be 


n8     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

able  to  receive  five  words  of  blinker  and  ten  words  of 
semaphore  a  minute.  Classes  were  held  both  during 
the  day  and  at  night,  in  blinker,  semaphore  and  flag  sig- 
naling. More  than  1000  signalmen  were  turned  out 
by  this  school  during  the  war  period. 

Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  A.  G.  Somers  was  the  first  head 
of  the  Signal  School.  At  that  time  he  was  a  Chief 
Quartermaster.  Early  in  1918  Lieutenant  Somers  was 
relieved  by  J.  R.  Harrison,  C.  Q.  M. 

THE    YEOMAN    SCHOOL 

The  Yeoman  School  was  organized  in  August,  1917, 
in  order  to  provide  the  service  in  general  with  men  fa- 
miliar with  the  duties  and  routine  of  a  Yeoman. 

When  this  school  was  started,  there  were  no  quar- 
ters or  equipment  available,  so  the  men  who  were  stand- 
ing by  to  receive  Yeoman  training  set  to  work  to  build 
their  own  school.  They  erected  a  row  of  tents  just 
south  of  the  Administration  Building,  and  equipped 
these  tents  with  home-made  desks  and  benches.  The 
first  class  of  Yeomen,  109  in  number,  was  graduated 
from  these  tents  on  October  10,  1917. 

From  that  time  on  the  Yeoman  School  grew  steadily, 
graduating  more  than  lOoo  competent  Yeomen. 

The  course  of  instruction  in  the  Yeoman  School  con- 
sisted of  practical  work  in  all  branches  of  clerical  duty 
ashore  and  afloat.  The  period  of  the  course  was  four 
months,  consisting  of  twenty-four  days  instruction  in 
each  of  the  five  classes,  namely — the  Commanding  Class, 
Executive  and  Navigation  Class,  Ordnance  and  Engi- 
neering Class,  the  G.  S.  K.  Class,  and  the  Pay  Class. 

In  the  Executive  and  Navigation  Class  the  men  were 
thoroughly  instructed  in  the  duties  of  an  Officers'  yeo- 


THE  SPECIAL  SCHOOLS  .119 

man,  which  compares  to  a  private  secretary  in  civil  life, 
and  studied  Navy  Regulations,  Courts  and  Procedure, 
and  General  Instructions.  Enough  navigation  was 
taught  to  make  the  men  familiar  with  all  terms  and 
forms  with  which  they  were  liable  to  come  in  contact, 
and  the  vast  amount  of  clerical  work  incident  to  keeping 
the  records  of  men  aboard  ship  was  gone  over.  .  . 

The  Pay  Class  familiarized  the  men  with  pay  rolls, 
vouchers  and  the  many  details  incident  to  keeping  the 
books  of  the  Pay  Department  in  good  order.  Every 
man  in  this  class  had  to  open  and  close  sixty-two  ac- 
counts. In  this  class  the  men  were  taught  enough  en- 
gineering to  make  them  familiar  with  engineering  f orms 
and  terms.  t 

In  the  G.  S.  K.  class  (general  storekeeping)  the  men 
had  to  learn  how  to  check  all  stores  coming  aboard,,  keep 
a  record  of  disbursements,  make  inventories,  etc.  . «  , 

The  Ordnance  and  Engineering  Class  familiarized  the 
men  with  the  forms  and  terms  used  in  these  departments 
of  a  ship's  activities. 

The  Yeoman  School  at  Great  Lakes  covered  a  little 
more  detail  than  like  schools  operated  at  other  Naval 
Training  Stations  in  that  the  Great  Lakes'  School  fa- 
miliarized its  students  with  the  duties  of  Navigation  and 
Engineering  Yeomen.  «  t 

Ensign  Robert  H.  Lenson,  who,  as  a  Chief  Yeoman, 
organized  the  school,  was  its  head  during  the  war  period. 

HOSPITAL    CORPS    TRAINING    SCHOOL 

Surgeon  John  B.  Kaufman,  now  a  Commander,  •  ar- 
rived at  Great  Lakes  to  establish  the  Hospital  Corps 
Training  School  in  January,  1917.  The  school  was 
opened  a  month  before  war  was  declared,  with  a  class 


of  twenty  hospital  apprentices.  In  April,  1917,  about 
three  hundred  hospital  apprentices  were  assigned  to  the 
school,  and  from  that  time  on  the  number  of  those  un- 
dergoing instruction  steadily  increased.  On  August  2, 
1918,  the  school  had  a  total  of  2053  apprentices  under 
instruction.  By  this  time  the  school  required  a  regi- 
mental unit  for  its  accommodation,  and  one  of  the  huge 
drill  halls  in  Camp  Perry  was  being  used  for  instruc- 
tion purposes.  Bacteriological  and  chemical  laborator- 
ies., were  equipped  for  the  instruction  of  forty  men  at  a 
time  in  the  identification  of  different  infections,  blood 
cdts,  and  urinalysis.  A  pharmaceutical  laboratory, 
said  to  be  the  largest  of  its  kind  in  the  country,  allowed 
144  men  at  a  time  to  be  instructed  in  the  different  pro- 
cedures in  practical  pharmacy. 

The  course  of  instruction  in  this  school  covered  a 
period  of  six  months.  The  method  of  teaching  was  a 
system  of  lectures  alternating  with  practical  instruc- 
tion and  demonstration,  with  examinations  monthly. 

The  subjects  taught  included:  Hygiene  and  Sanita- 
tion; Anatomy  and  Physiology;  Pharmacy;  Chemistry 
and  Bacteriology ;  Materia  Medica ;  First  Aid  and  Minor 
Surgery;  Nursing. 

The  course  in  hygiene  and  sanitation  included  a  series 
of  lectures  which  began  with  descriptions  from  a  hy- 
gienic and  sanitary  standpoint,  of  water  and  air,  and 
gradually  advanced  until  they  expounded  the  central 
principles  governing  the  hygienic  and  sanitary  condi- 
tions under  which  the  men  of  the  Navy  live,  aboard  ship 
and  in  the  field.  Under  this  subject  necessarily  came 
the  study  of  foods  and  mess  management,  so  the  chem- 
ical analysis  of  foods  was  taught  in  this  course. 

The  course  in  Anatomy  and  Physiology  embraced  lee- 


.  THE  SPECIAL  SCHOOLS  121 

tures  supplemented  by  demonstrations.  This  course, 
with  the  exception  of  work  in  the  anatomical  dissecting 
room  and  physiological  laboratory,  approached  that  of 
the  first  year  in  a  medical  college. 

The  courses  of  Pharmacy  and  Mater ia  Medica  were, 
perhaps,  taught  more  fully  than  any  of  the  others,  for 
it  was  only  at  the  school  that  an  opportunity  for  obtain- 
ing a  knowledge  of  these  subjects  was  afforded  the  men. 
It  was  presumed  that  the  men  enlisting  as  hospital  ap- 
prentices had  had  no  previous  instruction  in  these  sub- 
jects, and  the  courses  were  so  outlined  as  to  begin  with 
fundamental  principles  and  slowly  add  thereto  until, 
within  the  period  of  six  months,  the  complete  courses 
had  been  covered.  The  men  were  taught  to  make  tinc- 
tures, spirits,  waters,  emulsions,  and  to  compound  pre- 
scriptions. Specimens  of  all  the  articles  in  the  pharma- 
copoeia were  displayed  in  study  cases  for  the  instruc- 
tion of  the  men,  and  lectures  of  a  general  nature  de- 
scribed their  uses. 

In  First  Aid  and  Minor  Surgery  the  men  also  began 
with  first  principles,  followed  by  instruction  that 
qualified  them  to  meet  practically  all  emergencies.  The 
course  embraced  thorough  instruction  in  the  application 
of  bandages,  splints,  tourniquets,  and  the  technique  of 
minor  operations.  In  so  far  as  possible  the  students 
were  given  practical  exercises.  During  sham  battles  a 
certain  percentage  of  the  participants  were  instructed  to 
fall  wounded.  The  hospital  apprentices  followed  the 
battle  line,  inquired  of  the  fallen  men  the  location  of 
their  supposed  wounds,  and  then  applied  the  bandages 
and  splints  in  a  thoroughly  professional  manner. 

The  subject  of  chemistry  was  taught  in  an  elementary 
way,  only  such  things  being  given  as  were  vitally  neces- 


122     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

sary.  In  the  bacteriological  laboratory  the  students 
were  taught  how  to  use  and  care  for  the  microscope, 
and  make  the  many  kinds  of  tests  required  for  the  identi- 
fication of  infections,  blood  cells,  urinalysis,  etc. 

Practical  experience  in  nursing  was  obtained  by  being 
detailed  to  duty  in  the  hospital  and  regimental  sick  bays 
at  Great  Lakes,  and  at  other  naval  training  stations 
throughout  the  country. 

The  head  instructors  of  the  different  branches  were: 
Lieutenants  W.  E.  Thomson,  J.  G.  Davis,  A.  H.  Ben- 
hard,  C.  P.  Dean  and  G.  L.  Grain,  and  Pharmacists  L. 
E.  Bote,  C.  H.  Deane  and  L.  R.  Mason. 

The  school  graduated  2853  hospital  apprentices,  first 
class,  during  the  war  period.  These  graduates  were 
sent  to  the  fighting  ships  and  to  naval  bases  after  a  pe- 
riod of  nursing  in  naval  hospitals.  Many  performed 
admirable  service  on  the  transports  which  brought  the 
wounded  soldiers  back  from  France. 

The  fight  against  the  influenza  epidemic  at  Great 
Lakes  in  the  autumn  of  1918  provided  a  graphic  page  in 
the  history  of  the  school.  For  more  than  a  month  the 
hospital  corpsmen  in  training  worked  day  and  night  to 
combat  the  epidemic  and  stood  up  gamely  under  the 
strain. 

THE    RADIO    SCHOOL 

When  the  need  for  radio  operators  to  take  over  the 
various  radio  stations  in  the  Ninth,  Tenth  and  Eleventh 
Naval  Districts  became  apparent,  steps  were  taken  to 
enroll  in  the  Naval  Reserve  Force  such  men  as  were 
available.  As  the  warships  of  the  Great  Lakes'  Train- 
ing Squadron  were  placed  in  commission,  and  demands 
began  to  be  made  for  radio  men  for  the  merchant  ma- 
rine, it  became  apparent  that  the  radio  men  available 


THE  SPECIAL  SCHOOLS  123 

would  not,  in  any  measure,  fill  the  demand.  Accord- 
ingly, a  recruiting  campaign  was  carried  on,  whereby 
a  great  number  of  men  were  enrolled  for  instruction  in 
radio  work.  These  men  reported  to  Great  Lakes  and 
were  placed  under  the  instruction  of  the  radio  opera- 
tors at  the  Great  Lakes'  radio  station.  But  as  the  num- 
ber of  radio  apprentices  increased,  the  error  of  this  ar- 
rangement became  apparent,  and  early  in  May  a  radio 
school  was  organized  under  the  direction  of  Ensign  D. 
A.  Nichols,  of  the  Naval  Reserve  Force. 

During  the  summer  of  1917  the  Radio  School  grew 
in  size  until  it  had  four  hundred  men  under  instruction, 
the  radio  apprentices  enlisting  in  the  Naval  Reserve 
Force  being  under  the  instruction  of  Ensign  Nichols, 
and  those  enlisting  in  the  regular  service  receiving  in- 
struction from  Radio  Gunner  W.  A.  Sullivan. 

In  November,  1917,  the  school  was  moved  into  a  por- 
tion of  one  of  the  new  regimental  units  in  Camp  Perry, 
Ensign  Nichols  was  detached  and  sent  to  Europe,  Radio 
Gunner  Sullivan  assuming  charge.  By  January,  1918, 
the  number  of  men  receiving  radio  instruction  had  grown 
so  large  that  it  was  necessary  to  devote  the  entire  regi- 
mental unit  to  its  purposes,  and  plans  were  formulated 
for  partitioning  one  of  the  huge  drill  halls  into  code  in- 
struction rooms.  The  entire  plan  of  the  school  was  re- 
organized in  February,  1918,  when  Ensign  M.  B.  West 
assumed  charge,  on  a  basis  that  allowed  each  man.  to 
advance  in  his  work,  not  as  a  member  of  a  class,  but  as 
his  individual  progress  warranted.  By  the  time  this 
reorganization  was  completed  the  school  had  a  capacity 
for  simultaneously  instructing  2580  men.  Boatswain 
H.  R.  Gibson  was  Regimental  Commander. 

The  majority  of  the  men  available  for  instruction  in 


i24     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

the  school  at  this  time  had  had  no  previous  experience 
in  radio  work,  so  the  requirements  for  entrance  were 
simply  that  the  applicant  show,  by  reason  of  education 
or  experience  along  similar  lines,  that  he  was  good 
material  for  radio  work. 

Later,  however,  after  considerable  preliminary  study, 
it  was  decided  to  adopt  a  psychiatric  examination  for  all 
the  men  entering  the  Radio  School.  This  psychiatric 
examination  was  formulated  from  data  secured  by  ex- 
amining, first,  a  number  of  men  who  had  completed  the 
course  with  satisfactory  results;  second,  a  number  of 
men  who  were  progressing  well  in  the  school,  and  third, 
a  large  number  of  men  who  had  failed  to  make  satisfac- 
tory progress.  The  result  of  this  psychiatric  examina- 
tion was  such  that  less  than  six  percent  of  the  men  who 
completed  the  radio  course  at  Great  Lakes  failed  in  the 
more  advanced  course  given  them  at  Harvard  Uni- 
versity. 

The  course  of  training  consisted  of  instruction  in  the 
Continental-Morse  code,  the  students  having  to  acquire 
a  speed  of  approximately  twenty  words  a  minute;  and 
instruction  in  the  principles  of  electricity  and  magnetism, 
including  motors,  generators,  and  the  principal  parts  of 
the  various  pieces  of  apparatus  used  in  radio  work  and 
in  connection  with  it. 

The  length  of  the  course  of  instruction  was  inde- 
terminate, being  governed  solely  by  the  individual  prog- 
ress made  by  each  man.  As  soon  as  a  man  failed  to 
make  satisfactory  progress,  he  was  examined  psychi- 
atrically,  and  then  given  another  opportunity  or  trans- 
ferred, according  to  the  results. 

No  advancement  in  rating  was  given  at  Great  Lakes, 
except  in  the  cases  of  men  assigned  to  duty  as  instruc- 


THE  SPECIAL  SCHOOLS  125 

tors.     These  men  were  given  such  ratings  as  their  as- 
signment and  ability  made  desirable. 

The  final  examinations  consisted  of  both  the  press 
and  code  groups,  sent  at  varying  speeds  in  order  to  de- 
termine the  actual  operating  ability  of  the  individual. 
The  greater  number  of  the  4259  men  graduated  were 
transferred  to  Harvard  University  for  further  study, 
after  which  they  were  assigned  to  the  fighting  ships, 
transports  and  merchant  marine. 

THE   AVIATION    SCHOOLS 

The  Aviation  Regiment  at  Great  Lakes,  consisting, 
during  the  final  months  of  the  war,  of  four  schools  hav- 
ing a  total  enrollment  of  nearly  5000  men,  had  its  be- 
ginning in  June,  1917,  in  two  tents  at  the  foot  of  the 
bluff  overlooking  Lake  Michigan. 

The  fight  to  bring  Aviation  to  Great  Lakes  was  be- 
gun by  Captain  Moffett  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war. 
The  Navy  Department  was  not  easily  convinced.  After 
two  months  Captain  Moffett  was  authorized  to  enlist  a 
few  men  for  aviation  and  do  what  he  could  without  an 
appropriation  of  money  or  equipment. 

Lee  Hammond,  an  experienced  aviator,  was  enrolled 
in  the  Naval  Reserve  Force  as  a  lieutenant,  junior  grade, 
and  Great  Lakes'  aviation  unit  was  started  as  a  flight 
school  with  two  officers,  ten  enlisted  men,  and  no  equip- 
ment. The  Great  Lakes'  Aeronautical  Society  was 
formed  by  prospective  students,  and  money  was  donated 
to  purchase  machines  and  equipment.  The  first  ma- 
chine, an  antiquated  Curtiss  flying-boat,  was  received 
early  in  July,  1917. 

Gradually,  this  little  school  accumulated  seven  ma- 
chines of  various  types  and  worth,  the  number  of  men 


126     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

in  the  unit  was  increased,  and  training  flights  became 
a  daily  occurrence.  Of  the  fifteen  students  who  got 
their  first  flight  training  in  this  unpromising  school  not 
one  failed  to  secure  a  commission. 

In  the  autumn  of  1917,  the  Navy  Department  author- 
ized the  establishment  at  Great  Lakes  of  a  school  for 
Machinists'  Mates  (aviation)  and  preparations  were 
made  to  house  this  school  in  Camp  Perry,  with  one  of 
the  drill  halls  as  an  instruction  building.  The  move  to 
Camp  Perry  was  made  early  in  December,  and  for  a  few 
weeks  the  eighty  men  then  composing  the  aviation  unit 
devoted  their  time  to  organization  work.  Men  who 
were  anxious  to  get  into  aviation  work  were  trans- 
ferred from  the  seaman  regiments  and  enrolled  from 
civil  life,  until  the  number  so  obtained  reached  the  2000 
mark.  In  March,  1918,  the  School  for  Machinists' 
Mates  became  a  reality.  At  about  the  same  time  Cap- 
tain Moffett  went  to  Washington  and  obtained  an  ap- 
propriation of  more  than  $600,000  for  a  great  aviation 
camp.  Meanwhile,  without  authorization  and  with 
what  material  could  be  borrowed  or  improvised,  a  school 
for  aviation  quartermasters  was  created.  And  al- 
though this  school  continued  to  operate  without  author- 
ization until  August  i,  1918,  it  was  the  Navy's  principal 
source  of  quartermaster  material  (aviation)  during  all 
that  time. 

The  aviation  quarters  in  Camp  Perry  were  poorly 
adapted  to  the  necessities  of  aviation,  but  the  training 
of  Machinists'  Mates  and  Quartermasters  continued  un- 
der difficulties  until  the  middle  of  July,  1918,  when  the 
schools  were  moved  into  the  great,  especially  designed 
regimental  unit  constructed  to  the  north  of  the  Main 
Station  for  Aviation  purposes.  A  week  after  the  Avia- 


THE  SPECIAL  SCHOOLS  127 

tion  Unit  was  installed  in  its  new  quarters  the  School 
for  Aviation  Armorers  was  started. 

The  flight  school  from  which  the  Aviation  Unit  orig- 
inally developed  was  not  revived  in  1918,  but  the  old 
quarters  at  the  foot  of  the  bluff  that  looks  out  over  Lake 
Michigan  became  a  Naval  Air  Station  during  the  sum- 
mer months  of  1918.  In  the  hangars  were  kept  three 
of  the  latest  types  of  seaplanes  and  flying  boats,  cared 
for  by  a  crew  of  graduate  Machinists'  Mates  and  Quar- 
termasters. Lieutenant  Hammond  and  other  officers 
of  his  command  made  flights  every  day  for  experimental 
purposes.  An  aerial  mail  service  was  also  inaugurated 
between  Great  Lakes  and  Chicago. 

Because  of  the  pressing  need  of  aviation  officers  for 
ground  service  a  fourth  school  was  added  to  the  Avia- 
tion Unit  about  the  first  of  September,  1918,  namely — 
the  Aviation  Officers'  Ground  School. 

Thus,  from  the  two  officers  and  ten  men  of  July  I, 
1917,  the  Aviation  Unit  grew  until  it  consisted  of  nearly 
5000  men,  including  65  officers,  130  chief  petty  officers, 
and  450  instructors.  In  the  offices  alone  one  hundred 
and  twenty-five  men  were  required  to  handle  the  oper- 
ating detail.  During  the  final  few  months  of  the  war 
the  Machinists'  Mates  School  had  1440  men  under  con- 
tinuous instruction;  the  Quartermasters'  School,  480 
men ;  the  Armorers'  School,  600  men ;  the  Aviation  Of- 
ficers' Ground  School,  an  average  of  80  men.  The  lat- 
ter were  all  men  of  mature  age,  usually  thirty  years  or 
over,  and  the  purpose  of  their  training  was  to  fit  them 
for  the  various  executive  positions  at  Naval  Air  Sta- 
tions, both  in  the  United  States  and  in  Europe. 

Up  to  the  latter  part  of  March,  1918,  the  Aviation 
Unit  had  not  a  single  motor  on  the  block,  nor  a  single 


128     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

piece  of  machine  shop  equipment.  When  the  armistice 
was  signed,  the  equipment  of  the  unit  consisted  of  ninety 
Curtiss,  forty-eight  Liberty,  seventeen  Hispane-Suiza, 
fourteen  Sturtevant,  and  a  small  number  of  Gnome, 
Hall-Scott,  Renault,  Greene,  Wisconsin,  Thomas,  and 
Duesenburg  motors;  two  Curtiss  HS-i  boats,  one  Cur- 
tiss H-2  boat,  two  Curtiss  F  boats,  two  Curtiss  N-9 
boats,  and  a  Sturtevant  boat.  The  Armorers'  School 
possessed  sixteen  Lewis  standard  machine  guns,  sixteen 
Lewis  aerial  machine  guns,  twenty-three  Marlin  air- 
craft machine  guns,  three  Davis  non-recoil  3-pound 
guns,  and  one  Davis  non-recoil  aero  machine  gun,  to- 
gether with  a  large  amount  of  minor  equipment.  The 
great  machine  shop  was  equipped  with  sixty-two  milling 
machines,  sixty-three  lathes,  thirty-three  drill  presses, 
thirty-two  shapers,  seven  power  saws,  seven  universal 
grinders,  one  woodworking  machine,  one  automatic 
knife  grinder,  one  turret  screw  machine,  one  planer,  and 
a  vast  quantity  of  smaller  machinery. 

The  purpose  of  the  School  for  Aviation  Quartermas- 
ters was  to  turn  out  men  qualified  to  keep  in  repair  the 
wings,  wing  structures,  and  pontoons  of  the  Navy's  fleet 
of  aerial  ships.  To  graduate,  these  men  had  to  become 
proficient  in  the  work  of  patching  the  wings,  replacing 
broken  struts,  rigging  up  the  wiring,  and  overhauling 
the  pontoons  or  boat  portion  of  the  machines;  have  a 
working  knowledge  of  the  construction  of  heavier-than- 
air  flying  machines ;  and  be  familiar  with  the  principles 
of  flying.  The  course  covered  a  period  of  ten  weeks, 
the  first  two  weeks  of  which  were  devoted  to  such  sub- 
jects as  infantry  drill,  the  study  of  naval  regulations, 
and  guard  and  detail  duty. 

The  School  for  Aviation  Machinists'  Mates  gradu- 


THE  SPECIAL  SCHOOLS  129 

ated  men  qualified  to  care  for  and  repair  aeroplane  mo- 
tors. Special  training  was  given  in  the  care  and  repair 
of  Liberty  motors.  Not  only  did  the  students  in  this 
school  have  to  learn  quickly  to  detect  engine  troubles 
and  apply  the  remedy,  but  to  use  the  many  kinds  of  shop 
machines  and  tools  required  for  the  upkeep  of  aeroplane 
motors.  The  course  covered  a  period  of  three  months. 

At  the  time  the  School  for  Aviation  Armorers  was  es- 
tablished there  was  no  settled  policy  as  to  the  training 
of  such  armorers.  The  need  of  men  with  such  training 
was  just  being  fully  realized,  as  the  service  was  only 
then  beginning  to  feel  the  lack  of  competent  men  to  care 
for  the  various  types  of  armament  peculiar  to  aerial 
warfare. 

The  course  of  study  determined  upon  was  extremely 
intensive  and  covered  a  period  of  two  months.  As  an 
example  of  this,  each  man,  when  reciting,  was  required 
to  stand  at  attention  immediately  his  name  was  called, 
and  the  instructors  were  trained  to  ask  a  multitude  of 
questions  which  could  be  answered  briefly,  rather  than 
have  the  student  go  into  detail  in  the  manner  of  recita- 
tion. The  result  of  this  method  was  to  keep  the  interest 
and  attention  of  the  class  on  edge  at  all  times. 

The  subjects  studied  by  the  Aviation  Armorers  in- 
cluded the  Marlin  and  Lewis  machine  guns,  the  Clark 
bomb,  the  Springfield  rifle,  the  Colt  45-calibre  pistol,  the 
Davis  3-pound  gun,  Very's  signal  pistol,  bombing  gears 
and  sights,  and  mechanical  and  hydraulic  types  of  syn- 
chronizing gears.  Also  a  course  of  training  in  the  use 
of  shop  tools. 

The  first  students  in  the  School  for  Aviation  Armor- 
ers were  men  detailed  by  the  Bureau  of  Navigation  from 
the  rifle  ranges  in  the  east,  and  from  the  Lewis  Machine- 


130     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

Gun  School,  and  the  Savage  Arms  Company.  All  the 
other  students  were  men  picked  from  the  Incoming  De- 
tention units  at  Great  Lakes. 

The  Aviation  Unit  at  Great  Lakes  turned  out  a  total 
of  3350  graduates,  of  whom  the  Machinists'  Mates  were 
2158  in  number;  the  Quartermasters,  850;  the  Armor- 
ers, 300;  and  the  Ground  Officers,  41. 

Popular  opinion  bestowed  upon  the  actual  flyers  all 
of  the  excitement  of  the  aerial  branch  of  the  service, 
but  the  falconers  of  old  considered  it  a  great  sport  to 
take  their  birds  out  and  watch  them  battle  high  in  the 
air  with  some  feathered  foe.  The  aviation  ground  men 
were  as  vitally  interested  in  the  success  of  their  charges 
as  were  those  sportsmen  of  old.  The  success  of  the 
battle  depended  quite  as  much  upon  the  condition  of  the 
machine  as  it  did  upon  the  skill  of  the  flyer. 

The  officers  attached  to  the  Aviation  Unit  during  the 
late  summer  of  1918  were:  Lieutenant  Lee  Hammond, 
Commanding  Officer;  Lieutenant  C.  S.  Baker;  Lieu- 
tenant (j.  g.)  E.  H.  Barry;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  F.  B. 
Christmas;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  D.  P.  Forbes;  Lieutenant 
(j.  g.)  P.  K.  Wrigley;  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  Malcolm  R. 
McNeill;  Ensign  D.  B.  Billings;  Ensign  F.  F.  DeClark; 
Ensign  F.  S.  Dorhman;  Ensign  G.  D.  Dumas;  Ensign 
H.  H.  Fitch;  Ensign  S.  P.  Mahoney;  Ensign  H.  B. 
Groom;  Ensign  R.  M.  Modisette;  Ensign  P.  G.  B. 
Morriss;  Ensign  G.  M.  Peltz;  Ensign  W.  C.  Shilling; 
Ensign  F.  H.  Starr;  Ensign  L.  A.  Vilas;  Ensign  R.  L. 
Whitman;  Boatswain  Walter  Brown;  Gunner  P.  S. 
Drake;  Machinist  C.  E.  Edwards;  Machinist  H.  A. 
Kjos ;  Machinist  H.  W.  Loyd ;  Machinist  J.  S.  Marley ; 
Machinist  L.  J.  Pitzer;  Machinist  C.  A.  Sneddon;  Ma- 
chinist Ray  D.  Wilson. 


THE  SPECIAL  SCHOOLS  131 

THE   OFFICER    MATERIAL   SCHOOL 

It  might  be  said  that  the  Officer  Material  School  at 
Great  Lakes  had  its  beginning  with  a  class  of  forty  men, 
consisting  of  a  number  of  warrant  officers,  chief  petty 
officers,  and  men  of  lower  ratings,  which  received  in- 
struction in  building  303,  Camp  Dewey,  during  the 
months  of  January  and  February,  1918.  This  class  was 
under  the  supervision  of  Lieutenant-Commander  Ogden 
T.  McClurg.  The  course  given  the  students  consisted 
of  Navigation,  Ordnance,  Seamanship,  and  Drill.  The 
class  was  recommended  for  commissions  by  Captain 
Moffett  at  the  completion  of  the  course.  This  class  re- 
ceived commissions  as  ensigns  in  the  Naval  Reserve 
Force,  class  4,  in  March,  1918,  and  the  majority  of  the 
men  were  assigned  to  duty  in  the  Ninth,  Tenth  and 
Eleventh  Naval  Districts.  The  last  six  months  of  the 
war,  however,  found  many  of  these  men  occupying 
berths  as  officers  on  ships  of  the  fleet. 

On  April  17,  1918,  seventy-five  enlisted  men,  chosen 
by  regimental  commanders  and  heads  of  departments  on 
the  Station  as  prospective  candidates  for  the  Annapolis 
Reserve  Course,  were  formed  into  a  class  and  given  a 
three-weeks'  course  of  preparatory  instruction.  Lieu- 
tenant F.  C.  McCord  was  placed  in  charge  of  this  class. 
His  assistant  instructors  were  Lieutenants  Arthur  Rob- 
inson and  Paul  Hendron.  Early  in  May,  Lieutenants 
C.  J.  McReavy  and  Perry  R.  Taylor  were  attached. 

The  original  intention  was  that  the  fifty  men  who 
passed  highest  in  this  class  should  be  sent  to  Annapolis, 
but,  when  the  call  came,  the  quota  allowed  Great  Lakes 
accommodated  only  thirty-four.  The  thirty-four  men 
chosen  were  commissioned  as  ensigns  in  the  Naval  Re- 


132     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

serve  Force,  class  4,  on  May  31,  and  sent  to  Annapolis 
for  the  four  months'  course  which  would  qualify  them 
for  temporary  commissions  in  the  regular  Navy. 

At  about  the  same  time  the  Bureau  of  Navigation  au- 
thorized the  establishment  of  a  regularly  constituted 
Officer  Material  School  at  Great  Lakes,  and  the  thirty- 
nine  men  of  the  class  of  seventy-five  who  studied  for 
entrance  to  the  Annapolis  Reserve  School,  but  who  failed 
to  be  sent  there,  were  the  first  students  enrolled  in  this 
new  school,  and  comprised  the  first  and  second  classes. 

Beginning  with  June,  1918,  a  new  class,  composed  of 
twenty  men  selected  from  the  different  regiments  and 
departments  at  Great  Lakes,  and  eight  men  selected 
from  the  other  District  organizations,  entered  the  school 
each  month.  No  candidates  were  received  directly  into 
the  school  from  civil  life.  It  was  necessary  for  men 
wishing  to  enter  this  school  to  enlist  in  the  regular  Navy 
or  the  Naval  Reserve  Force,  serve  at  least  two  months 
at  Great  Lakes  or  in  the  Ninth,  Tenth  and  Eleventh  Na- 
val Districts,  be  recommended  for  the  school  by  their 
regimental  commander  or  commanding  officer,  and  pass 
a  competitive  examination. 

The  minimum  age  for  candidates  was  twenty  years 
and  eight  months ;  they  had  to  be  physically  qualified  to 
perform  all  the  duties  of  a  line  officer  afloat;  and  they 
had  to  be  high  school  graduates  or  the  equivalent,  and 
know  trigonometry. 

The  course  of  study  covered  a  period  of  sixteen  weeks, 
and  the  intention  was  to  graduate  one  class  of  twenty- 
eight  men  each  month.  The  subjects  studied  qualified 
the  students  for  deck  duties  only,  and  consisted  of  Navi- 
gation, Ordnance,  Seamanship,  and  Regulations  and  Na- 
val Customs. 


Instructors  in  Officer  Material  School 

At  Work  on  a  Flying  Boat 
A  Miniature  Flying  Machine  Designed  by  the  Students 


One  of  the  Famous  "Singing  Squares" 

Presentation  of  the  Colors 
A  Review  on  a  Pageant  Day 


THE  SPECIAL  SCHOOLS  133 

Graduates  of  the  school  were  recommended  to  the 
Bureau  of  Navigation  for  commissions  as  ensigns  in  the 
Naval  Reserve  Force,  class  4,  for  duty  at  sea  or  in  the 
Naval  Districts,  or  for  an  intensive  course  of  instruction 
at  Annapolis. 

Lieutenant  F.  C.  McCord  was  placed  in  charge  of  the 
school,  which  was  at  that  time  located  in  Camp  Dewey, 
in  quarters  that  were  so  thoroughly  inadequate  that 
plans  were  developed  for  the  construction  of  a  specially 
designed  group  of  school  buildings.  On  June  I,  1918, 
Lieutenant  C.  J.  McReavy  relieved  Lieutenant  McCord 
as  head  of  the  school.  During  the  summer  months  re- 
markable progress  was  made  in  spite  of  the  handicap  of 
inadequate  quarters. 

The  first  class  to  graduate  from  the  school  consisted 
of  nineteen  men,  three  of  whom  were  commissioned  two 
weeks  before  their  course  was  completed,  as  they  were 
needed  for  overseas  duty.  The  remaining  sixteen  men 
received  their  commissions  in  August. 

The  first  of  September  the  organization  of  the  school 
was  further  perfected  by  the  establishment  of  an  execu- 
tive and  disciplinary  department,  with  Lieutenant  Perry 
R.  Taylor  in  charge.  A  new  system  of  school  regula- 
tions incorporating  a  demerit  clause  which  took  account 
of  such  offenses  as  turning  the  head  in  ranks,  unpol- 
ished shoes,  and  the  like,  was  instituted.  The  result 
was  a  gratifying  "tightening  up." 

The  second  class  to  be  graduated  consisted  of  twenty 
students.  These  men  received  their  commissions  Sep- 
tember 30,  1918. 

The  group  of  buildings  constructed  for  the  particular 
purpose  of  the  Officer  Material  School  was  completed 
about  the  middle  of  September,  but,  due  to  the  influenza 


134     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

epidemic,  the  move  to  the  new  quarters  was  not  made 
until  October  2. 

The  new  unit  consisted  of  an  Administration  Build- 
ing and  Instruction  Building,  four  barracks  buildings, 
and  a  mess  hall.  The  Administration  Building  con- 
tained the  offices  of  the  school,  the  officers'  quarters,  a 
wardroom,  and  a  dining  room.  In  the  Instruction 
Building  were  located  four  large  classrooms,  a  rigging 
loft,  and  the  offices  of  the  instructors.  The  barracks 
buildings  each  contained  twenty-eight  rooms,  each  of 
which  was  occupied  by  two  students,  and  a  recreation 
room.  On  the  roofs  of  all  the  buildings  in  the  unit 
were  mounted  signal  bridges  and  masts  for  use  in  the 
course  on  signaling.  Each  one  of  these  bridges  repre- 
sented a  ship. 

The  officers  and  instructors  attached  to  the  school 
when  the  armistice  was  signed  were  as  follows :  Com- 
manding Officer,  Lieutenant  C.  J.  McReavy,  U.  S.  N. ; 
Executive  Officer,  Lieutenant  Perry  R.  Taylor,  U.  S.  N. ; 
Officer  in  Charge  of  Navigation  Department,  Lieutenant 
T.  M.  Leovy,  U.  S.  N. ;  Assistant  Navigation  Instructor, 
Ensign  Thor  Norberg;  Officer  in  Charge  of  Ordnance 
Department,  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  D.  R.  Knape,  U.  S.  N. ; 
Assistant  Ordnance  Instructor,  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  H. 
E.  Coe,  Jr.,  U.  S.  N. ;  Officer  in  Charge  of  Seamanship 
Department,  Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  M.  T.  Wilkerson,  U.  S. 
N. ;  Assistant  Seamanship  Instructor,  Ensign  K.  Scott. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

PAGEANT   DAYS   AND   SPECIAL   REVIEWS 

THOUSANDS  of  visitors  thronged  Great  Lakes 
on  pageant  days.  They  came  in  long  train- 
loads,  on  electric  cars,  and  in  automobiles. 
They  came  singly  and  in  groups,  from  far-distant  as 
well  as  nearby  towns  and  cities;  great  delegations  of 
them  came  from  all  the  larger  communities  of  the  Mid- 
dle West. 

Every  Wednesday  afternoon  they  flowed  in  a  steady 
stream  through  the  guarded  gates,  then  lost  themselves 
in  the  great  wooden  camps  and  in  the  multiplicity  of 
tented  streets,  finally  to  become  massed  around  the  main 
parade  ground  to  witness  a  series  of  drills  and  battle 
maneuvers  the  like  of  which  was  not  duplicated  any- 
where else  in  America. 

And  whatever  the  impulse  that  brought  them,  whether 
of  curiosity,  a  desire  for  excitement,  or  some  deeper 
personal  urge,  these  visiting  thousands  became  en- 
veloped in  an  atmosphere  that  lifted  them  off  their  feet. 
It  was  magnificent,  the  sight  that  greeted  their  eyes; 
the  spirit  that  permeated  it  all.  There  was  nothing  like 
it  anywhere,  on  so  large  a  scale. 

Imagine  the  scene  that  spread  out  before  the  visiting 
thousands  on  Wednesday  afternoons  during  the  sum- 
mer of  1918.  Imagine  it!  Forty-five  thousand  of  the 
youth  of  the  Middle  West — perhaps  a  fourth  of  them 
just  out  of  high  school,  and  the  majority  of  them  under 

135 


136     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

twenty-one — Standing  By  for  Inspection,  or  Passing  in 
Review  on  the  great  drill  field.  Down  the  field  they 
come,  battalion  after  battalion  of  them,  swinging  along 
to  the  martial  music  of  America's  greatest  band;  their 
white  uniforms  spotless,  their  rifles  glinting  in  the  sun ; 
their  faces  bronzed  and  cheery. 

And  more  than  the  martial  music  of  the  bands,  the 
booming  of  cannon,  and  the  pageantry  of  marching  men, 
it  was,  I  think,  the  pervasive  spirit  of  all  those  young 
faces  that  so  tremendously  moved  the  visiting  thousands 
to  enthusiasm. 

Great  Lakes  was  undoubtedly  the  show  place  of  the 
Middle  West  during  the  war  period,  and  probably  the 
biggest  military  attraction  in  the  entire  country.  There 
was  not  one  Wednesday  review  held  during  the  sum- 
mer months  of  1918  at  which  the  number  of  visitors  fell 
below  30,000,  and  during  July  and  August  the  number 
rose  above  40,000.  On  one  of  the  Pageant  Days  in 
August,  46,000  visitors  entered  the  gates  of  the  Main 
Station.  On  this  day  the  automobiles  allowed  to  pass 
through  the  gates  numbered  4200. 

On  such  days  the  railroads  and  electric  lines  connect- 
ing Great  Lakes  with  Chicago  were  taxed  to  the  utmost. 
The  Chicago  and  Northwestern  Railroad  started  run- 
ning special  trains  long  before  noon,  and  even  then 
could  not  take  care  of  the  traffic.  Thousands  of  people 
could  get  no  further  than  the  train  shed  in  Chicago,  so 
great  was  the  congestion.  The  interurban  electric  roads 
ran  double  and  triple-headers  as  close  together  as  they 
could  be  operated,  and  the  Chicago  elevated  lines  ran 
long  trains  of  its  cars  all  the  way  to  Great  Lakes  over 
the  lines  of  the  Chicago,  North  Shore  and  Milwaukee 
Railroad.  For  hours  on  these  days  the  roads  between 


PAGEANT  DAYS  AND  SPECIAL  REVIEWS     137 

Chicago  and  Great  Lakes  were  as  thick  with  automobiles 
as  any  great  city  thoroughfare. 

The  throngs  of  visitors  came  early  and  stayed  late. 
Thousands  of  them  had  to  wait  hours  before  they  could 
get  near  a  train  or  electric  car.  For  miles  the  auto- 
mobiles had  to  move  at  a  snail's  pace  so  great  was  the 
congestion  on  the  highways.  Yet  every  week  found  the 
crowds  greater.  It  is  estimated  that  several  hundred 
thousand  people,  thousands  of  whom  came  hundreds  of 
miles,  visited  Great  Lakes  and  carried  away  with  them 
a  clear  idea  of  what  Navy  efficiency  means. 

The  regular  Pageant  Day  feature  was  the  Passing 
in  Review  before  the  Commandant  and  his  staff,  and 
any  particularly  distinguished  visitors,  of  the  thousands 
of  white-clad  bluejackets.  After  the  review  several 
drills  were  given,  the  most  popular  of  these  being  the 
physical  drill  under  arms,  the  men  executing  the  differ- 
ent movements  in  cadence  with  the  music.  Another  ex- 
ceptionally popular  feature  was  the  "singing  squares.'* 
In  this  formation  a  battalion  of  four  companies  formed 
a  hollow  square,  with  the  regimental  band  in  the  middle, 
and  marched  past  the  reviewing  stand,  singing. 

On  special  Pageant  Days  a  sham  battle  followed  the 
regular  review.  A  bugle  sounded.  Three  heavily 
armed  tanks  propelled  themselves  across  the  parade 
ground,  followed  by  a  motorcycle  battery  of  machine 
guns.  Company  after  company  of  white-clad  sailors 
advanced  in  wave  formation,  their  heads  hooded  in  gas 
masks.  From  the  grove  of  trees  to  the  west  a  battery  of 
camouflaged  three-inch  field  pieces  opened  up  with  ear- 
splitting  detonations.  The  cannon  projecting  through 
the  gun  ports  of  the  tanks  answered,  the  advancing  sail- 
ors fired  in  volleys ;  gas  bombs  were  exploded  along  the 


i38     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

entire  line  of  advance,  throwing  out  thick  clouds  of  yel- 
low smoke.  The  noise  of  battle  became  deafening,  the 
bursts  of  sound  from  the  machine  guns  and  the  rattle  of 
musketry  filling  the  gaps  between  the  detonations  of  the 
larger  guns.  High  overhead  two  flying  boats  circled 
and  swooped.  Here  and  there  a  sailor  dropped,  to  be 
cared  for  a  few  minutes  later  by  the  men  of  the  hospital 
corps,  who  rendered  first  aid  and  carried  them  from  the 
field.  Then  the  battle  was  over  and  the  thousands  of 
spectators  scattered  to  hunt  up  relatives  or  friends 
among  the  bluejackets,  or  to  re-gather  in  the  great  ra- 
vine amphitheatre  to  watch  the  boxing  matches.  The 
sides  of  the  ravine  were  built  up  into  tiers  of  seats  and 
accommodated  close  to  fifteen  thousand  spectators. 

Many  notable  men,  both  American  and  European, 
visited  Great  Lakes  during  the  war  period  and  watched 
the  bluejackets  pass  in  review  on  the  regular  weekly 
Pageant  Days  or  on  special  occasions.  Among  them 
were :  Colonel  Roosevelt ;  Rear  Admiral  L.  C.  Palmer, 
Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Navigation;  Rear  Admiral  Al- 
bert Ross,  the  first  Commandant  at  Great  Lakes;  Rear 
Admiral  Cameron  McRae  Winslow ;  Secretary  Daniels, 
who  visited  that  Station  twice;  Rear  Admiral  Harris, 
Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Yards  and  Docks ;  Rear  Admiral 
W.  C.  Braisted,  Surgeon  General  of  the  Navy;  ex-Presi- 
dent William  Howard  Taf t ;  Captain  Roald  Amundsen, 
discoverer  of  the  South  Pole ;  William  G.  Me Adoo,  Sec- 
retary of  the  Treasury;  Dr.  Henry  Van  Dyke,  at  one 
time  United  States  Ambassador  to  the  Netherlands; 
Surgeon-General  Gorgas,  U.  S.  A. ;  Admiral  W.  S.  Ben- 
son, Chief  of  Naval  Operations;  Count  Vincenzo 
Macchi  di  Cellere,  the  Italian  Ambassador ;  General  Em- 
ilie  Gughelmotti,  Italian  Military  Attache ;  Captain  Gui- 


PAGEANT  DAYS  AND  SPECIAL  REVIEWS     139 

seppe  Bevione,  Chairman  of  the  Italian  Chamber  of 
Deputies;  the  Duke  of  Devonshire,  Governor  General 
of  Canada;  Captain  Arthur  Snagge,  British  Naval  At- 
tache to  the  United  States ;  Colonel  Hammersley,  Mem- 
ber of  British  Parliament ;  Captain  H.  A.  Clive,  British 
Army;  Mr.  Colville  Barcley,  C.  B.  E.,  M.  V.  D.,  Acting 
British  Minister  during  the  absence  of  the  British  Am- 
bassador, Lord  Reading;  Major-General  J.  G.  Mc- 
Lachan,  D.  S.  O.,  British  Military  Attache  at  Washing- 
ton; Brigadier-General  W.  A.  Whitehead,  C.  M.  G., 
Head  of  British-Canadian  Recruiting  Commission; 
Prince  Axel  of  Denmark;  Governor  Frank  O.  Lowden 
of  Illinois ;  Ira  Nelson  Morris,  American  Ambassador  to 
Sweden. 

What  many  of  these  men  had  to  say  about  Great 
Lakes  should  be  of  interest  to  every  man  connected  with 
it.  The  following  comment  of  Admiral  Benson,  the 
highest  officer  in  the  Navy,  made  when  he  visited  Great 
Lakes  in  November,  1918,  should  be  particularly  grati- 
fying: 

"After  seeing  the  work  being  done  here  I  am  leaving 
with  renewed  confidence  in  the  ultimate  success  of  the 
work  laid  out  for  the  Navy  to  perform. 

"It  is  impossible  to  say  too  much  in  praise  of  Captain 
Mofrett  and  the  way  he  is  conducting  the  Station.  I 
am  speechless.  The  spirit  that  pervades  this  Station  is 
so  fine  that  it  is  hard  to  put  it  into  words.  Every  ele- 
ment fits  in  exactly  in  the  teamwork  of  the  whole. 
Every  man  seems  to  have  an  intelligent  appreciation  of 
what  we  are  trying  to  accomplish  and  with  that  failure 
is  impossible.  Every  man  feels  his  individual  responsi- 
bility. That  is  shown  by  the  work  being  done  on  this 
Station. 

"I  was  over  in  Camp  Farragut  last  night  and  saw  the 


i4o     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

men  there.  They  have  taken  hold  of  things  already. 
They  show  what  the  young  men  of  America  can  do. 
Mr.  Sharpe  is  doing  great  work  with  the  new  men. 
That  is  just  one  of  the  things  that  fits  in  the  general 
scheme  that  is  carried  on  here. 

"The  band  is  the  most  inspiring  thing  I  have  ever 
listened  to.  It  is  doing  a  great  war  work.  I  believe  it 
is  doing  more  to  arouse  the  spirit  of  the  people  than  any 
other  one  element.  It  carries  the  spirit  of  Great  Lakes 
to  all  the  cities  it  visits  on  its  Liberty  Loan  and  other 
tours. 

"Great  Lakes  has  always  had  the  reputation  of  send- 
ing the  best  men  to  the  Fleet.  It  has  maintained  that 
reputation  even  when  the  men  were  sent  out  without 
the  full  period  of  training.  I  know  it  will  keep  that 
reputation." 

The  Italian  Ambassador  was  particularly  impressed 
with  what  he  saw  at  Great  Lakes.  Probably  no  greater 
compliment  was  paid  the  Station  than  "The  Spirit  of 
America  is  concentrated  here  at  Great  Lakes." 

"I  came  here  expecting  to  see  a  great  naval  station," 
he  continued,  "but  I  didn't  realize  its  greatness  until 
after  I  saw  what  you  are  doing.  I  was  greatly  sur- 
prised when  your  Commandant  told  me  that  the  men 
leading  the  companies  were  ordinary  sailors.  In  Italy 
we  would  have  three,  four,  five  commissioned  officers 
with  each  company.  But  that  is  the  way  you  are  doing 
things  here. 

"It  is  hard  for  me  to  put  into  words  what  I  think 
of  Great  Lakes.  I  am  so  surprised  at  the  great  war 
preparations  here  that  I  don't  know  just  how  to  express 
my  wonder.  But  now  I  know  at  least  one  reason  why 
the  United  States  has  been  so  successful  in  getting  men 
to  France.  It  is  because  you  are  turning  out  such  fine 
fighting  men." 


PAGEANT  DAYS  AND  SPECIAL  REVIEWS     141 

The  efficiency  of  Great  Lakes  was  epitomized  by  Cap- 
tain Arthur  Snagge  of  the  British  Navy  as  follows: 
"If  Great  Lakes  is  the  largest  Naval  Station  in  the 
United  States  it  is  easily  the  biggest  in  the  world;  no 
English  Station  can  compare  with  Great  Lakes  in  size 
at  all.  What  strikes  me  is  the  obvious  interest,  the  ob- 
vious keenness  to  learn  in  these  men.  Great  Lakes  is 
the  most  complete  thing  of  its  kind  I  have  ever  seen.  I 
can  appreciate  this  training  station  after  my  eight 
years'  experience  as  head  of  the  Naval  Physical  Train- 
ing Headquarters  Station  at  Portsmouth,  England." 

"Great  Lakes  is  going  to  make  the  people  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley  feel  that  they  have  a  frontage  on 
both  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  oceans,"  declared  Dr. 
Henry  Van  Dyke,  in  addressing  the  bluejackets.  "I 
am  happy  to  be  here  in  this,  the  greatest  Station  of  the 
finest  Navy  in  the  world.  I  feel  that  this  Station  is  go- 
ing to  do  something  more,  something  in  addition  to 
training  men  for  active  service  in  our  splendid  Navy. 
It  is  going  to  inspire  the  spirit  of  patriotism  right  here 
in  the  central  location  of  our  country." 

"I  haven't  the  words  in  your  American  language  to 
express  how  wonderful  it  all  is,"  said  Captain  Roald 
Amundsen.  "It  is  more  than  wonderful." 

Secretary  Daniels  had  the  following  things  to  say 
when  he  addressed  the  men  at  Great  Lakes : 

Great  Lakes  always  sent  the  best  men  to  the  Fleet, 
and  since  the  war  it  has  sent  even  better  men.  A  gentle- 
man asked  me  some  time  ago  where  the  Great  Lakes 
Station  was  located.  I  told  him  that  it  was  located  in 
the  hearts  of  the  American  people,  and  that  in  its  men 
the  country  had  reposed  a  confidence  which  would  be 
fully  justified.  You  already  know  that  whenever  the 


142     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

captains  and  commanders  in  the  Fleet  wish  men  who 
are  clean  of  limb  and  clear  of  head,  able  instantly  to  do 
any  work  they  are  called  upon  to  do,  that  the  training  at 
Great  Lakes  is  a  certificate  of  efficiency. 

There  was  a  fiction  some  years  ago  that  the  Navy 
was  found  on  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific,  but  the  world 
has  come  to  know  now  that  the  greatest  Naval  establish- 
ment in  America  is  here  in  the  heart  of  the  Middle  West. 

A  few  days  ago  I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  a  dis- 
tinguished visitor  from  Great  Britain,  the  Archbishop 
of  York.  He  said  to  me — "When  I  return  to  Great 
Britain,  the  deepest  impression  I  will  carry  with  me,  and 
the  one  I  think  speaks  highest  for  American  efficiency, 
will  have  to  do  with  the  30,000  youths  at  Great  Lakes." 

I  have  taken  occasion  to  examine  the  records  of  the 
various  training  stations  and  of  the  young  men  who 
come  into  the  Navy.  I  have  found  from  statistics  that 
the  young  men  who  come  from  Great  Lakes  have  in  their 
bodies  and  in  their  spirits  the  things  that  make  a  sailor 
meet  every  need.  In  cleanness  of  living,  and  absence 
from  disease  that  scars  body  and  mind,  the  recruit  from 
Great  Lakes  surpasses  those  from  any  other  Station  in 
our  Navy. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE   GREAT   LAKES'    "LIBERTY"    BAND 

IT  was  only  appropriate  that  Great  Lakes,  the  largest 
Naval  Training  Station  in  the  world,  should  have 
the  most  wonderful  military  band  in  America — a 
band  that  won  country-wide  fame. 

It  was  not  surprising  that  this  great  band  of  fourteen 
hundred  musicians,  the  average  age  of  whom  was  nine- 
teen years,  should  have  proved,  when  it  toured  the  coun- 
try in  several  detachments,  to  be  the  most  effective  or- 
ganization in  all  the  United  States  for  the  arousing  of  a 
deep,  sincere  patriotism  of  the  kind  that  makes  sacrifices 
as  well  as  applauds. 

Perhaps  at  no  time  was  the  power  of  music  over  the 
minds  and  pocketbooks  of  Americans  so  keenly  demon- 
strated as  during  the  Second,  Third  and  Fourth  Liberty 
Loan  campaigns.  A  great  number  of  "boosters"  of  na- 
tional prominence  were  at  the  disposal  of  the  loan  man- 
agers, eloquent  speakers  harangued  the  public  on  every 
street  corner  and  in  every  place  of  entertainment,  but  it 
remained  for  the  Great  Lakes  bandsmen,  leading  great 
patriotic  parades,  to  add  the  final  punch. 

During  the  Second  Liberty  Loan  campaign,  the  Great 
Lakes  Naval  Band,  which  at  that  time  numbered  about 
three  hundred  and  fifty  musicians,  toured  the  principal 
cities  of  the  East,  with  the  result  that  in  many  instances 
districts  oversubscribed  their  apportionment  nearly 

143 


i44     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

double,  while  every  community  visited  by  the  band  in- 
creased its  subscriptions. 

On  October  12,  1917,  Baltimore,  Md.,  held  two  his- 
tory-making Liberty  Loan  rallies,  during  both  of  which 
the  Great  Lakes  Naval  Band  effectively  aroused  the  peo- 
ple to  an  enthusiastic  acceptance  of  the  duty  required 
of  them.  Inspired  by  this  band,  the  18,000  people,  who 
attended  each  of  the  two  rallies,  subscribed  $20,348,200. 
Thus  Baltimore,  helped  by  Great  Lakes,  accomplished 
what  its  newspapers  described  as  the  biggest  triumph  in 
its  history. 

The  story  was  the  same  wherever  the  Great  Lakes' 
Naval  Band  played  during  the  Second  Liberty  Loan 
campaign.  This  great  band  made  its  first  appearance 
in  New  York  as  a  big  feature  of  New  York's  "Red 
Cross"  week,  in  October,  1917.  Fifth  Avenue  wasn't 
big  enough  for  it. 

It  was  not  to  be  wondered  at,  therefore,  that,  in  mak- 
ing the  plans  for  the  Third  Liberty  Loan  campaign, 
Secretary  McAdoo  asked  Secretary  Daniels  for  the  use 
of  the  Great  Lakes  bandsmen.  Captain  Moffett  as- 
signed detachments  of  the  band  to  practically  every  Fed- 
eral Reserve  District,  except  those  that  bordered  on  the 
Atlantic  and  Pacific  Coasts.  More  than  six  hundred 
members  of  the  band  were  en  route  at  one  time  during 
this  campaign. 

Detachments  of  the  great  band,  made  up  as  follows, 
were  assigned  to  five  of  the  Federal  Reserve  districts : 

Third  Federal  Reserve  District,  headquarters,  Phila- 
delphia: one  detachment  of  sixty  pieces,  under  Band- 
master Wm.  Brown.  This  band  toured  eastern  Penn- 
sylvania and  New  Jersey. 

Fourth  Federal  Reserve  District,  headquarters,  Cleve- 


THE  GREAT  LAKES'  "LIBERTY"  BAND     145 

land:  one  detachment  of  fifty-four  pieces,  under  First 
Musician  F.  G.  Scheon.  This  band  toured  Ohio,  west- 
ern Pennsylvania  and  part  of  West  Virginia. 

Seventh  Federal  Reserve  District,  headquarters,  Chi- 
cago :  a  detachment  of  one  hundred  and  fifty-five  pieces, 
including  a  fife  and  drum  corps  of  thirty  pieces.  After 
playing  in  Chicago  and  two  or  three  of  the  larger  cities 
as  one  band,  this  detachment  was  broken  up  into  five 
bands  and  toured  Illinois,  Michigan,  Indiana,  Wisconsin 
and  Iowa. 

Eighth  Federal  Reserve  District,  headquarters,  St. 
Louis:  a  detachment  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
pieces,  under  Bandmaster  V.  J.  Grabel.  This  band 
played  before  200,000  people  in  St.  Louis,  and  later  was 
broken  up  into  five  bands  to  tour  Missouri,  Arkansas, 
Northern  Mississippi,  Western  Kentucky  and  Southern 
Illinois. 

Tenth  Federal  Reserve  District,  headquarters,  Kan- 
sas City:  one  detachment  of  fifty  pieces,  under  Band- 
master H.  A.  Foelker.  This  band  toured  Kansas, 
Oklahoma,  Nebraska,  Colorado,  Wyoming  and  northern 
New  Mexico. 

In  addition  to  the  regular  district  assignments,  bands 
of  fifty  pieces  were  sent  out  for  trips  of  short  duration, 
playing  in  Duluth,  Minn.;  Grand  Rapids,  Saginaw  and 
Detroit,  Mich. ;  and  in  two  or  three  Wisconsin  cities. 

The  Battalion  Band,  composed  of  three  hundred 
pieces,  accompanied  by  Lieutenant  Sousa,  and  with 
Monk  Tennant,  the  "Peacock  of  the  Navy,"  as  drum 
major,  appeared  at  St.  Louis,  Lexington,  Ky.,  Cincin- 
nati and  Chicago. 

During  the  Fourth  Liberty  Loan  campaign  more  than 
1 200  musicians  of  the  Great  Lakes  Band  toured  the 


i46     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

country,  appearing  in  Illinois,  Indiana,  Ohio,  Michigan, 
Iowa,  Wisconsin,  Minnesota,  North  Dakota,  South  Da- 
kota, Montana,  Missouri,  Kansas,  Mississippi,  Tennes- 
see, Kentucky,  Texas,  Colorado,  Nebraska,  Oklahoma, 
Wyoming,  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  New 
Jersey  and  Connecticut. 

The  Battalion  Band,  with  Lieutenant  Sousa  in  charge, 
covered  3000  miles,  appearing  in  Cleveland  and  Colum- 
bus, Ohio;  Washington,  D.  C;  Baltimore,  Md. ;  Phila- 
delphia, Pa.;  New  York,  Brooklyn,  Portchester,  New 
Rochelle,  Ossining,  Peekskill,  Yonkers,  Troy,  Albany 
and  Buffalo,  N.  Y. ;  Patterson  and  Hoboken,  N.  J. ;  New 
Haven,  Hartford,  Bridgeport  and  Norfolk,  Conn. ;  De- 
troit, Battle  Creek  and  Grand  Rapids,  Mich. ;  and  Chi- 
cago, 111. 

The  demand  for  the  music  of  this  band  was  so  great 
that  it  was  forced  to  play  morning,  afternoon  and  eve- 
ning, and  at  times  it  made  three  cities  in  one  day.  One 
bandsman,  who  claimed  that  he  kept  an  accurate  count 
of  the  number  of  miles  marched  in  the  above  mentioned 
twenty-five  cities,  figured  that  the  bandsmen  covered  ap- 
proximately four  hundred  miles.  After  an  evening 
concert  the  musicians  would  go  aboard  the  train  and 
wash  their  clothes,  so  as  to  maintain  Great  Lakes'  repu- 
tation for  neat  appearance. 

The  big  day  during  the  Fourth  Liberty  Loan  cam- 
paign was  October  12,  when  "Liberty  Day"  was  cele- 
brated throughout  the  country.  On  this  day  1200  mem- 
bers of  the  Great  Lakes  band  participated  in  the  parades 
held  in  the  various  cities.  The  Battalion  Band  led  the 
parade  in  New  York  in  which  President  Wilson  partici- 
pated. The  parade  in  Chicago  was  led  by  a  band  de- 
tachment of  two  hundred  pieces,  in  charge  of  Senior 


THE  GREAT  LAKES'  "LIBERTY"  BAND      147 

Bandmaster  R.  Tainter,  and  seven  hundred  Great  Lakes 
bandsmen,  in  detachments  of  from  thirty  to  sixty  pieces 
each,  appeared  in  parades  in  practically  all  the  other 
large  cities  in  the  country,  excepting  New  Orleans  and 
San  Francisco. 

The  Great  Lakes  Naval  bands  made  an  everlasting 
impression  wherever  they  appeared.  The  fine  appear- 
ance of  the  young  musicians  as  they  swung  along  in 
their  natty  blue  uniforms,  set  off  with  white  leggings 
and  hats,  the  kind  of  music  they  played,  and  the  zest 
with  which  they  rendered  it,  moved  the  vast  crowds  who 
heard  them  with  a  great,  surging  thrill. 

There  was  something  in  the  playing  of  the  Great 
Lakes'  bandsmen  that  other  bands  seemed  to  lack.  An 
editorial  tribute  in  the  Chicago  Tribune  expressed  it  as 
follows:  "In  this  office,  situated  on  a  principal  corner 
of  the  city,  there  is  a  long  and  checkered  experience 
with  American  band  music.  We  make,  therefore,  with 
some  personal  emotion,  our  acknowledgments  to  the 
bluejacket  band  which  has  been  taking  part  in  the  Lib- 
erty Loan  drive.  It  is  a  part  of  the  huge  Great  Lakes 
Naval  Band  and  an  honor  to  it.  When  it  is  heard  ap- 
proaching, there  is  no  doubt  as  to  what  band  is  coming. 
There  is  a  swinging,  martial  spirit  which  is  all  its  own. 
It  is  real  martial  music,  of  which  in  this  pacific  country 
there  is  very  little.  We  hope  that  the  Great  Lakes  Naval 
Band  has  given  the  campaign  band  a  new  standard  and 
a  new  view  of  life.  If  it  turns  out  to  be  so,  we  shall 
owe  another  great  debt  to  Great  Lakes." 

At  the  beginning  of  the  war  the  Great  Lakes  Naval 
Band  consisted  of  about  fifty  musicians,  under  Senior 
Bandmaster  Richard  Tainter.  By  the  end  of  May, 
1917,  the  band  had  increased  to  two  hundred  and  forty- 


148     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

two  musicians,  and  John  Phillip  Sousa,  the  "March 
King,"  had  been  enrolled  as  a  lieutenant  in  the  Naval 
Reserve  Force.  Lieutenant  Sousa  was  attached  to 
Great  Lakes  as  commanding  officer  of  the  band,  and 
took  active  charge  of  the  larger  detachments,  notably 
the  Battalion  Band,  during  the  Liberty  Loan  and  Red 
Cross  campaigns.  His  last  tour  with  the  band  was  to 
Toronto,  Canada,  just  before  the  armistice  was  signed, 
from  which  city  he  was  compelled  to  go  to  his  home  at 
Port  Washington,  Long  Island,  on  account  of  illness. 

At  the  height  of  its  growth  the  Great  Lakes  Band 
consisted  of  fifteen  hundred  musicians,  formed  into  a 
Battalion  Band  of  three  hundred  pieces,  and  fourteen 
large  regimental  bands.  This  group  of  musicians  ap- 
peared a  number  of  times  in  regimental  formation  on  the 
main  drill  field  at  Great  Lakes,  the  entire  personnel  play- 
ing at  the  same  time  with  success.  Imagine  it!  Fif- 
teen hundred  finely  trained  young  bandsmen,  with  the 
"Peacock  of  the  Navy,"  at  their  head,  advancing  down 
the  drill  field  in  solid  formation.  A  torrent  of  stirring 
martial  music  enveloped  you  as  might  a  sudden  storm ;  a 
mighty,  energizing  volume  of  music  that  thrilled  you 
through  and  through.  Detachments  of  the  Great  Lakes 
Band  were  heard  by  hundreds  of  thousands  of  people 
throughout  the  country,  but  nowhere  were  the  blue- 
jacket bandsmen  heard  playing  as  one  unit  except  at 
Great  Lakes.  One  day  in  August,  1918,  sixty-eight  mu- 
sicians of  the  Music  Militaire  Pranqaise,  the  greatest 
of  French  military  bands,  visited  Great  Lakes.  This 
French  band  was  greeted  by  the  largest  band  ever  as- 
sembled— a  band  composed  of  nearly  fifteen  hundred 
horns  and  drums  and  fifes  and  tubas,  playing  "We  are 
coming." 


THE  GREAT  LAKES'  "LIBERTY"  BAND      149 

But  it  was  not  because  Great  Lakes  wanted  to  have 
the  biggest  band  in  the  world  that  so  many  musicians 
were  enrolled.  It  was  because  Captain  Moffett  realized 
the  value  of  martial  music  as  an  energizer,  as  a  means 
for  loosening  pent-up  enthusiasm  and  making  it  spill 
over. 

Detachments  of  the  Great  Lakes  Naval  Band  were  in 
enormous  demand  during  the  war  period  as  marching 
bands,  concert  bands,  and  as  orchestras.  A  record  was 
kept  that  showed  hundreds  of  engagements.  The  peo- 
ple of  St.  Louis  seemed  to  be  particularly  desirous  of 
having  members  of  the  Great  Lakes  band  playing  in 
and  about  their  city.  They  had  one  or  more  bands  en- 
gaged in  some  kind  of  war  work  during  practically  the 
entire  war  period. 

During  1918  the  demand  upon  Great  Lakes  to  provide 
bands  for  the  Fleet  and  for  Naval  bases  was  consider- 
able. The  largest  single  order  was  for  nineteen  com- 
plete bands  to  be  placed  upon  the  transports  bringing 
the  soldiers  home  from  France.  From  November  10 
to  November  25,  1918,  one  band  per  day  was  shoved  off 
from  Great  Lakes,  so  that  a  continuous  chain  of  bands, 
one  day  apart,  extended  from  this  Station  to  the  eastern 
coast  and  far  out  into  the  Atlantic. 

A  total  of  3056  musicians  were  enrolled  and  trained 
at  Great  Lakes  during  the  war  period.  Approximately 
2250  of  these  musicians  were  transferred  to  the  fleet 
and  to  Naval  bases.  About  forty  bands  were  sent 
aboard  ship. 

Early  in  the  spring  of  1918,  owing  to  the  large  num- 
ber of  orchestral  musicians  who  desired  enrollment,  it 
was  decided  to  form  a  band  unit  that  could  on  occasion 
be  transformed  into  a  real  symphony  orchestra.  This 


i5o     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

orchestra  contained  young  musicians  who  had  played  in 
various  symphony  orchestras  of  the  country,  including 
those  of  Minneapolis,  Chicago,  Pittsburg,  Philadelphia 
and  Detroit.  As  the  Great  Lakes  Symphony  Orchestra 
it  became  widely  known.  The  leader  of  this  orchestra 
was  Bandmaster  Felber,  formerly  with  the  Chicago 
Symphony  Orchestra. 

The  following  is  Lieutenant  John  Philip  Sousa's  de- 
scription of  his  activities  as  leader  of  the  Great  Lakes 
"Liberty"  Band: 

"In  the  report  of  the  English  Commission  appointed 
to  determine  the  things  most  important  in  winning  the 
war  music  was  placed  only  after  food,  clothing  and 
shelter. 

"The  first  to  recognize  the  necessity  and  attractive- 
ness of  the  concert  band,  a  combination  of  wood-wind, 
brass  and  percussion  for  purely  indoor  concerts  was 
Patrick  Sarsfield  Gilmore,  who,  to  use  his  own  words, 
'came  from  Ireland  and  was  born  in  Boston  nineteen 
years  later.'  He  merged  the  military  band  of  the  22nd 
N.  Y.  N.  G.  into  the  Gilmore  Concert  Band  that  toured 
this  country  from  coast  to  coast  and  was  the  musical 
Messiah  bringing  the  glad  tidings  to  the  many  that 
Wagner,  Liszt,  Verdi,  Rossini,  and  other  great  compos- 
ers were  realities  and  not  musical  myths. 

"In  recalling  the  work  and  effect  of  music  during  the 
war  there  is  probably  no  one  in  America  more  entitled 
to  the  thanks  of  our  people  than  Captain  W.  A.  Moffett, 
Commandant  of  the  Great  Lakes  Naval  Station  during 
the  war  period.  This  officer,  combining  the  qualities  of 
an  organizer  and  administrator,  a  diplomat  and  a  lover 
of  music,  realizing  the  great  importance  of  music  in 
stimulating  recruiting,  in  entertaining,  in  the  pomp  and 
circumstances  of  military  life,  and  in  bringing  to  the 


The  "Rookie"  Band 

Lieutenant  Sousa  and  a  Section  of  the  Great  Lakes  Band 
A  Detachment  of  the  Great  Lakes  Band  Heading  a  Parade  in  Chicago 


Secretaries  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  going  through   Military  Formations 

M.  H.  Bickham,  General  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Secretary 

The  Corps  of  Chaplains 


THE  GREAT  LAKES'  "LIBERTY"  BAND      151 

surface  all  that  is  patriotic  in  us,  stands  among  the  lead- 
ing figures  of  the  war. 

"At  our  entrance  into  the  war,  he  began  recruiting 
musicians  for  the  Navy,  and  after  he  had  attached  to 
his  station  some  one  hundred  and  odd  players,  he  asked 
my  friend,  John  Alden  Carpenter,  the  well-known  com- 
poser, and  one  of  his  officers,  Lieutenant  James  McKes- 
son Bower,  to  ask  if  I  would  not  come  to  Great  Lakes 
and  talk  over  band  matters  with  him.  I  left  New  York 
immediately  and  went  to  Great  Lakes,  where  the  Gap- 
tain  and  myself  had  an  interview  on  the  necessity  of 
music  during  the  war.  He  asked  me  if  I  would  not  ac- 
cept a  commission  as  lieutenant  of  the  line  and  take 
charge  of  the  musical  forces.  I  accepted,  and  I  might 
add,  I  was  offered  by  the  Commandant  two  promotions 
during  the  twenty  months  I  was  there  but  refused  them 
because  I  felt  a  lieutenant  could  do  the  work  just  as 
thoroughly  as  an  officer  of  higher  grade.  Captain  Mof- 
fett  and  myself  began  formulating  our  plans  and  re- 
cruiting as  rapidly  as  possible.  I  found  the  musicians 
at  the  station  had  all  sorts  of  instruments,  of  all  sorts 
of  makes  and  pitch,  but  after  the  forces  had  been  re- 
cruited to  six  hundred,  the  Commandant  asked  the  Navy 
Department  for  an  appropriation  to  purchase  instru- 
ments of  one  pitch  and  of  a  standard  make.  The  Hon* 
orable,  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  granted  this  request 
and  we  were  given  forty  thousand  dollars  for  instru- 
mental equipment. 

"Although  band  units  and  individual  players  we're 
continually  sent  overseas  or  to  the  fleet  or  other  stations, 
the  recruiting  was  so  persistent  that  during  the  war  we 
had  at  all  times  a  thousand  or  more  players  in  training. 
Our  first  consideration  was  the  organization  of  the  Band 
battalion. 

"The  Band  battalion  consisted  of  seventeen  files  of 
sixteen  men  each  and  one  file  of  drums  of  twelve;  the 
first  and  second  file  numbered  thirty-two  field  trumpets 


1 52     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

in  'F';  the  third  and  fourth,  thirty-two  trombones;  the 
fifth,  sixth  and  seventh,  forty-eight  cornets;  the  eighth 
and  ninth,  thirty-two  horns  and  altos ;  the  tenth,  eleventh 
and  twelfth,  twenty-four  euphoniums  and  twenty-four 
basses ;  the  thirteenth,  ten  small  drums ;  one  bass  drum, 
one  cymbal ;  the  fourteenth,  sixteen  saxaphones ;  the  fif- 
teenth, sixteenth  and  seventeenth,  forty-eight  *B'  clario- 
nets; the  eighteenth  file  divided  among  piccolos,  flutes 
and  oboes  and  'E'  clarionets. 

"In  the  formation  of  the  battalion  the  soprano  brass 
was  placed  on  the  right  flank  and  the  soprano  reed  on 
the  left  flank.  The  drums  came  between  the  heaviest 
brass  and  the  heaviest  reeds. 

"Apart  from  the  band  musicians  and  field  music,  we 
had  a  color-guard,  with  a  beautiful  set  of  colors  pre- 
sented us  by  some  ladies  of  New  York;  guidons,  a  gift 
from  the  New  York  Hippodrome  Organization ;  hospital 
stewards,  master-at-arms,  one  bandmaster  for  each  divi- 
sion of  seventy-five,  drum-major  and  three  commis- 
sioned officers  in  charge  of  the  military,  the  musical  and 
the  medical  departments  of  the  battalion. 

"We  also  organized  regimental  detachments  of  fifty- 
six  men,  a  double  unit  of  the  Delaware  type,  under  the 
command  of  a  bandmaster  and  a  drum-major.  We  had 
at  the  station  at  times  as  high  as  seventeen  of  these 
bands. 

"The  instrumentation  of  the  regimental  bands  was 
made  to  conform  very  largely  to  that  of  the  Band  bat- 
talion. It  will  be  noted  that  in  the  instrumentation  the 
first  consideration  was  given  to  volume  and  carrying 
power  with  the  idea  that  as  the  military  band's  work  of 
necessity  must  be  largely  outdoors,  it  is  of  more  ad- 
vantage to  have  volume  than  it  is  to  have  variegated 
coloring." 


CHAPTER  X 
GREAT  LAKES'  ATHLETIC  RECORD 

WHEN  the  United  States  entered  the  World 
War,    Great   Lakes,    with   its   comparatively 
small  number  of  men,  was  hardly  considered 
as  an  athletic  factor  in  the  Middle  West,  other  than  as 
a  possible  opponent  for  some  of  the  smaller  colleges. 

Over  night  Great  Lakes  expanded  from  a  few  hun- 
dred men  to  many  thousands,  and  with  this  increase 
came  some  of  the  best  athletes  in  the  country.  No  finer 
set  of  athletes  was  ever  assembled — not  the  mere  beef 
and  bone  which  is  called  an  athlete  in  some  quarters, 
but  the  alive,  alert,  sensitive,  American  athlete,  all  nerve 
and  sinew,  with  speed  and  intelligence  equally  developed 
with  bone  and  brawn. 

During  the  war  period  Great  Lakes  set  the  pace  in 
athletics,  producing  wonderful  teams  and  individual 
athletes.  Athletics  became  one  of  the  dominating  train- 
ing ideas,  a  sure  method  of  developing  the  "fight"  in- 
stinct that  produces  the  winning  punch. 

Captain  William  A.  Moffett,  Commander  John  B. 
Kaufman,  Athletic  Director,  and  Lieutenant  "Jack" 
Kennedy,  in  direct  charge  of  boxing  and  wrestling, 
were  the  three  men  most  responsible  for  Great  Lakes' 
athletic  development.  Captain  Moffett  and  Com- 
mander Kaufman  encouraged  the  participation  in  ath- 
letics of  all  the  men  on  the  Station  by  making  the  dif- 
ferent games  and  sports  a  part  of  the  training  course. 

153 


i54     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

This  "sports-for-all"  idea  gave  every  man  an  equal 
chance  to  partake  of  the  benefits  of  health-  and  muscle- 
building  recreation. 

Regimental  Athletic  Directors  were  appointed  in  the 
various  regiments  and  a  systematic  program  of  sports 
framed  that  was  certain  to  raise  the  fighting  efficiency 
of  the  men.  Plans  were  immediately  made  to  select 
representative  teams  to  play  other  training  camps  and 
athletic  organizations-.  That  this  was  not  an  easy 
proposition  at  the  beginning  may  be  judged  from  the 
fact  that  when  the  first  call  for  baseball  candidates  was 
sent  out  by  the  Athletic  Officer  in  May,  1917,  there  were, 
by  actual  count,  921  aspiring  youths  who  applied  for  a 
position  on  the  Station  nine.  For  several  days  Felix 
Chouinard,  at  one  time  with  the  Chicago  White  Sox, 
bemoaned  the  fact  that  he  had  been  selected  by  the  Ath- 
letic Officer  to  organize  a  representative  baseball  team. 

By  adopting  the  regimental  sport  system,  however, 
it  soon  became  possible  for  Athletic  Director  Kaufman 
to  place  his  finger  on  the  men  he  wanted  for  his  teams. 
Experts  in  all  lines  of  athletics  were  enrolled  to  admin- 
ister the  finishing  touches  to  the  Great  Lakes  athletes. 
Track,  baseball,  football,  boxing  and  wrestling,  and 
swimming  experts  of  the  Middle  West  were  obtained. 
With  their  cooperation  Great  Lakes  started  to  rise  to  a 
position  in  the  athletic  world  which  became  the  envy  of 
every  Army  and  Navy  camp  in  the  country. 

In  each  case  men  were  found  whose  experience  in 
civil  life  qualified  them  to  direct  the  various  branches 
of  athletics.  Great  credit  should  be  given  to  such 
pioneers  in  the  athletic  history  of  Great  Lakes  as  Carl 
Hellberg,  Frank  Hill,  Andy  Ward  and  Eddie  Fall  in 
Track;  Phil  Chouinard  in  Baseball;  Addison  Stillwell, 


GREAT  LAKES'  ATHLETIC  RECORD       155 

Pat  Smith,  Hugh  Blacklock,  Kitty  Gordon,  Phil  Ray- 
mond, Phil  Proctor,  Homer  Johnson,  Jimmie  Conzel- 
man,  Hildner,  Loucks,  Andrus  and  Harold  Erickson  in 
Football;  and  Bill  Johnson,  George  Halas,  John  Felm- 
ley,  David  Peppard,  Bill  Allen,  and  Loyd  Covney  in 
Basketball. 

The  record  for  the  1917  baseball  season  was  not  one 
over  which  the  sailors  could  waltz  in  ecstasy,  but  there 
was  enough  accomplishment  to  satisfy  the  athletic  di- 
rector that  Great  Lakes  had  the  stuff  of  which  cham- 
pions are  made.  The  members  of  the  Station  baseball 
team  in  1917,  every  one  of  whom  had  the  real  Navy 
fighting  spirit,  were :  Manager  Phil  Chouinard,  Vince 
and  Charley  LaBarge,  Herbert  Gibson,  Tanner,  Bar- 
tholomew, Ripperton,  Kleffman,  Stair,  Goodman,  Kohl- 
man,  Eissler  and  Speaker.  Of  these  1917  players, 
Chouinard,  Ripperton,  Gibson,  Kohlman  and  Stair  sur- 
vived the  constantly  moving  drafts  to  sea. 

During  the  1917  baseball  season,  scores  of  games  were 
played  between  the  regimental  teams,  but  no  regular 
inter-regimental  league  was  formed,  owing  to  the  con- 
gested and  transient  condition  of  the  Station.  Players 
who  were  picked  for  a  unit  team  on  one  day  would  be 
on  their  way  to  sea  the  next.  Despite  this,  however, 
the  sports-for-all  idea  was  given  a  thorough  trial  and 
was  not  found  to  be  wanting  in  a  single  particular. 

When  the  leaves  turned  brown  and  the  autumn  sun 
took  on  the  shape  and  hue  of  a  pigskin  in  the  late  after- 
noons, Commander  Kaufman  sounded  the  call  for  foot- 
ball candidates.  Again  the  coaching  problem  loomed 
large,  just  as  it  had  in  baseball.  Then  the  presence  of 
Lieutenant  Emmett  Angell,  Medical  Corps,  U.  S.  N. 
R.  F.,  who  had  been  directly  interested  in  athletics  at 


156     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

various  universities  of  the  country  for  over  ten  years 
was  discovered.  He  was  called  in  from  one  of  the 
training  ships  of  the  Great  Lakes  Squadron  and  given 
the  grid  mentor's  post,  with  Lieutenant  Holly,  Medical 
Corps,  U.  S.  N.,  and  Mr.  Herman  Olcott,  of  the  Com- 
mission on  Training  Camp  Activities,  as  his  assistants. 

Coach  Angell  had  thousands  of  men  to  pick  from,  but, 
strange  to  relate,  the  majority  of  the  men  who  came  out 
for  the  team  were  absolutely  "green."  Then  Pat  Smith, 
captain-elect  of  the  University  of  Michigan  team,  ap- 
peared along  with  three  other  Maize  and  Blue  warriors, 
and  around  these  stalwarts  was  built  the  Great  Lakes 
football  team  of  1917.  Phil  Proctor  of  the  University 
of  Nebraska  was  another  powerful  prospect,  who  later 
developed  into  one  of  the  season's  stars. 

After  two  weeks  of  loose  practice,  hindered  by  the 
inability  of  the  mentor  to  obtain  real  football  material, 
the  team  went  to  Milwaukee  to  combat  Marquette  Uni- 
versity. It  was  beaten  14  to  7,  and  to  this  defeat  was 
attributed  its  later  successes,  because  it  made  every 
player  a  fighter. 

Following  the  first  lacing,  the  team  stepped  out  and 
really  covered  itself  with  credit.  It  battled  all  its  op- 
ponents in  a  satisfying  fashion  and  made  every  sailor 
a  rooter.  The  team's  record  for  the  season  follows: 
Marquett,  14 — Great  Lakes,  7;  Camp  Custer,  7 — Great 
Lakes,  o;  Great  Lakes,  21 — Haskell  Indians,  17;  Great 
Lakes,  27 — Benton  Harbor,  o;  Great  Lakes,  23 — U.  of 
Iowa,  14;  Camp  Funston,  7 — Great  Lakes,  o;  Great 
Lakes,  9 — Camp  Grant,  6 ;  Great  Lakes,  27 — Fort  Sher- 
idan, o. 

The  lineup  of  the  team  in  its  important  contests  fol- 


GREAT  LAKES'  ATHLETIC  RECORD       157 

lows:  Conzelman,  quarterback;  Pat  Smith,  full  back; 
Erickson  and  Proctor,  half  backs;  Johnson  and  Ray- 
mond, ends;  Allen  and  Blacklock,  tackles;  Andrus  and 
Robbins,  guards;  Pottinger,  center. 

During  all  this  time  track  athletics  were  being  de- 
veloped, but  competition  was  confined  to  general  meets 
on  the  Station.  In  the  first  meet  there  were  over  a 
thousand  entries. 

At  about  this  juncture  in  the  history  of  Great  Lakes 
athletics,  there  appeared  in  the  enlisted  personnel  two 
blue  jackets  who  played  a  great  part  in  placing  the  Sta- 
tion before  the  athletic  world.  These  men  were  Harry 
Hazelhurst  and  Perry  McGillvray,  to  whom  is  due  all 
credit  for  Great  Lakes  supremacy  in  swimming.  Their 
duties  were  to  instruct  in  swimming  and  build  up  a 
team  of  swimmers  to  enter  into  competition  with  out- 
side teams.  This  work  was  started  the  latter  part  of 
1917,  but  due  to  the  lack  of  pools  (there  being  but  one 
on  the  Station  at  that  time)  but  little  could  be  accom- 
plished until  1918. 

Great  Lakes  turned  out  one  of  the  best  basketball  fives 
in  the  country,  despite  the  fact  that  prospects  for  a 
powerful  team  were  anything  but  glittering  at  the  out- 
set. Coach  Olcott  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  tossers 
and  immediately  set  out  to  weld  together  a  strong  rep- 
resentative team.  Among  the  sailors  who  turned  out 
for  the  first  practice  were  several  who  had  gained  val- 
uable experience  in  high  schools  and  colleges,  but  the 
first  combination  put  forth  by  Coach  Olcott  was  unable 
to  hitch  and  some  of  the  opening  contests  were  dropped 
because  of  lack  of  team  play  and  weakness  in  basket 
popping. 


158     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

It  was  not  until  the  enlistment  of  George  Halas,  cap- 
tain of  the  University  of  Illinois  five,  and  Bill  Johnson, 
forward  on  the  Illinois  Athletic  Association  five,  the 
National  A.  A.  U.  championship  winner,  that  the  team 
took  on  the  appearance  of  a  title  outfit.  Peppard  of 
the  Michigan  "Aggies"  emerged  from  Incoming  De- 
tention and  in  short  order  convinced  the  coach  that  he 
was  the  proper  man  for  center.  Covney  of  Detroit 
was  a  survivor  from  the  original  five. 

Then,  with  Covney  and  Johnson  at  the  forwards, 
Peppard  at  center,  and  Allen  and  Halas  at  guards, 
Great  Lakes  rapidly  popped  to  the  top  of  the  basket- 
ball ladder.  Trips  were  taken  through  Illinois,  Wis- 
consin and  Michigan,  and,  out  of  eighteen  games,  the 
sailors  landed  the  decision  in  seventeen. 

Victories  over  Camp  Custer  and  Camp  Zachary  Tay- 
lor gave  the  Station  team  the  service  championship  of 
the  Middle  West.  As  a  reward  the  players  and  Coach 
Olcott  were  presented  with  gold  fobs  by  Commander 
Kaufman. 

Ice  hockey  made  its  bow  to  the  bluejackets  as  a  sport, 
but  from  a  competitive  standpoint  the  season  was  not 
a  success.  The  team  was  managed  by  Yeoman  Jim 
Holway. 

An  example  of  the  interest  and  value  of  inter-regi- 
mental sports  was  evidenced  during  the  winter  of  1917- 
18  in  the  Station  Basketball  League,  in  which  fourteen 
teams  battled  for  the  tossing  championship  of  the  camp. 
After  a  hard  tussle  the  Hospital  School  came  through 
with  the  prize  in  a  brilliant  game  with  the  Sixth  Regi- 
ment, the  score  beins:  20  to  18. 

Commander  Kaufman  estimated  that  eight  hundred 


GREAT  LAKES'  ATHLETIC  RECORD       159 

men  of  the  Station  took  active  part  in  the  basketball 
league  play  during  the  season,  while  five  thousand  ap- 
peared at  one  time  or  another  in  the  inter-company 
pleasure  skits. 

As  a  reward  for  his  good  work  during  the  1917  base- 
ball season,  Chief  Yeoman  Phil  Chouinard,  who  later 
was  commissioned  as  an  ensign,  was  honored  with  the 
management  of  the  1918  baseball  team. 

The  year  1918  saw  Great  Lakes  a  leader  or  strong 
contender  in  every  branch  of  athletics.  The  baseball 
team  was  made  up  of  some  of  the  best  baseball  players 
in  the  country.  It  included  such  men  as  Red  Faber  and 
Phil  Chouinard,  of  the  White  Sox;  Joe  Leonard,  of  the 
Senators;  Fred  Thomas,  of  the  Red  Sox;  Ben  Dyer,  of 
the  Tigers ;  Paddy  Driscoll,  of  the  Cubs ;  Vern  demons, 
of  the  St.  Louis  Browns ;  Rube  Ehrhardt,  of  Columbus ; 
John  Paul  Jones,  of  the  Giants;  Bill  Johnson,  of  the 
Athletics;  George  Halas,  of  the  University  of  Illinois; 
Spence  Heath,  of  the  University  of  Chicago;  Rags 
Faircloth,  of  the  Mississippi  Aggies;  Billy  Fox,  of 
Joliet;  Ray  Neusel,  Bud  Croake,  Billy  Swanson  and 
John  Rycroft.  Later,  the  team  was  enriched  by  the 
service  of  Johnnie  Lavan  of  the  Senators  and  George 
Cunningham  of  the  Tigers,  and  gathered  in  its  first  big 
championship  game,  defeating  the  best  Navy  team  and 
thus  appropriating  the  championship  of  the  Navy. 
This  game  was  with  the  team  representing  the  Atlantic 
Fleet,  and  among  its  players  were  such  men  as  Rabbit 
Maranville,  Witt,  Del  Gainor  and  Durning.  The  game 
was  played  at  Yorktown,  Va.,  on  July  4,  and  Great 
Lakes  won  it  by  a  score  of  2  to  o.  Great  Lakes  later 
cinched  its  title  to  the  Navy  championship  by  defeating 


160     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

the  same  team  two  games  out  of  three  at  Great  Lakes 
and  one  game  at  the  National  League  baseball  park  in 
Chicago. 

Still  later,  the  Great  Lakes  baseball  team  turned  a 
listening  ear  to  the  Fifth  Naval  District  team,  which 
boasted  of  such  ball  players  as  Big  Bill  Jacobson  of  the 
St.  Louis  Americans.  It  defeated  this  team  in  two 
straight  games  at  Great  Lakes. 

During  the  1918  baseball  season  Great  Lakes  had 
twenty  regimental  teams,  each  completely  outfitted  in 
distinctive  uniforms.  At  the  beginning  of  the  season 
a  league  containing  all  these  teams  was  formed,  but  at 
mid-season  it  was  considered  wise  to  terminate  the 
schedule,  and  the  leader — the  Detention  Bears — was 
awarded  the  victory.  Ten  of  the  teams  were  then  or- 
ganized into  a  so-called  National  League,  and  the  re- 
maining ten  were  dubbed  the  American  League.  A 
schedule  which  terminated  on  September  15,  was  drawn 
up  for  each  of  these  leagues,  and  the  winner  in  each 
played  a  series  of  five  games  to  determine  the  Station 
championship.  The  Seventh  Regiment  (Radio  School) 
was  the  winner  in  the  National  League,  and  the  Third 
Regiment  in  the  American  League.  In  the  series  for 
the  Station  Championship  the  Seventh  Regiment  won. 

The  Great  Lakes  swimmers — Harry  Hazelhurst, 
Perry  McGillvray,  Buddie  Wallen,  Bayard  McClana- 
han,  Davy  Jones,  Johnny  Bennett,  Zeke  Laubis,  Charlie 
Stevens,  Clark  Leach,  Jack  Searle,  Bill  Vosburgh,  Ed- 
die Reeves  and  Frank  Pickel — gathered  practically 
everything  worth  while  during  the  season  of  1918.  The 
outdoor  championship  of  the  United  States,  and  also 
of  the  Central  A.  A.  U.  were  won  by  large  margins. 
Perry  McGillvray  established  three  new  world's  rec- 


GREAT  LAKES'  ATHLETIC  RECORD      161 

ords  as  follows:  the  150  yd.  back  stroke,  1 148-4/5;  220 
yd.  straight-away,  2:21-2/5;  100  yd.  backstroke,  1:07- 
4/5.  Buddie  Wallen  established  two  new  world's  rec- 
ords— the  440  yd.  straightaway,  5  min.,  25  sec. ;  and  the 
880  yd.,  ii  min.  27-1/5  sec.  McGillvray  also  did  the 
100  yd.  backstroke  in  1:15,  a  new  Central  A.  A.  U. 
record. 

In  the  indoor  swimming  championships  of  the  United 
States,  the  Great  Lakes  swimmers,  exclusive  of  the 
water  polo,  won  three  firsts,  three  seconds,  and  one 
third;  the  Illinois  Athletic  Club,  three  firsts,  one  sec- 
ond, and  two  thirds ;  and  the  Chicago  Athletic  Associa- 
tion, won  the  plunge  for  distance,  was  second  in  the 
diving  and  in  the  200  yd.  breast  stroke,  and  came  in 
third  in  the  50  yd.,  400  yd.,  and  500  yd.  relay  races. 

The  water  polo  championships,  which  required  draw- 
ings just  before  the  time  set  for  play,  were  drawn  for 
position  two  days  before  the  event.  When  it  came  time 
for  the  Great  Lakes  Second  team  to  play,  a  measles 
quarantine  barred  several  of  the  players  from  contest- 
ing and  a  re-drawing  was  requested.  The  Illinois 
Athletic  Club  agreed  to  this,  but  the  Chicago  Athletic 
Association  objected.  Great  Lakes  and  the  Illinois 
Athletic  Club  protested  playing  in  what  was  con- 
sidered a  farce,  as  the  Chicago  Athletic  Associa- 
tion team  would  receive  second  place  without  hav- 
ing to  play.  The  President  of  the  National  A.  A.  U, 
upheld  the  contention  of  Great  Lakes  and  a  re- 
drawing was  ordered.  The  Chicago  Athletic  Associ- 
ation would  not  consent,  however,  and  Great  Lakes 
and  the  Illinois  A.  C.  played  each  other,  the  Illi- 
nois A.  C.  team  winning  by  a  score  of  5  to  2.  The 
executive  committee  of  the  National  A.  A.  U.  ruled  that 


1 62     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

this  was  illegal  and  gave  first  and  second  place  in  water 
polo  to  the  Chicago  Athletic  Association,  and  with  it  the 
National  Indoor  Swimming  Championship.  This  de- 
cision Commander  Kaufman  accepted  without  further 
protest. 

Boxing  and  wrestling  brought  their  share  of  cham- 
pionships in  1918.  In  the  National  Wrestling  Cham- 
pionships, Great  Lakes  was  barely  defeated  by  the  Gary 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  Great  Lakes  won  both  the  boxing  and 
wrestling  championships  in  the  Central  A.  A.  U.  boxing 
tournament.  The  novice  wrestlers  gathered  in  the 
championship  in  the  American  Amateur  Federation. 

Both  boxing  and  wrestling  went  strong  at  Great 
Lakes  during  1918,  weekly  shows,  held  in  the  ravine 
amphitheatre  during  the  summer  months  and  in  one  of 
the  huge  drill  halls  during  the  winter,  drawing  thou- 
sands of  enthusiastic  visitors  as  well  as  the  bluejackets. 
Lieutenant  "Jack"  Kennedy,  the  supervising  officer,  had 
as  his  staff  of  instructors  such  boxers  as  Jack  Kunovski, 
Eddie  Nearing,  Maurie  Flynn,  Morris  Bloom,  Billie 
Walters,  Teddy  Hayes,  Ritchie  Mitchell,  Pal  Moore, 
Cal  Delaney,  Eddie  Stanton,  Stewart  Donnelly,  Jack 
Bunk,  Jack  Heinan,  Denny  and  Jack  O'Keefe,  and 
Tommy  White.  The  staff  of  wrestling  instructors  in- 
cluded Ben  Reuben,  Jack  Gruppel,  Herb  Singer,  Sam 
Vernon,  Al  Forst,  Don  Frazee,  Joe  Stecher,  Louis  Natt 
and  Arnold  Minkley. 

It  was  these  men  who  developed  the  young  boxers 
and  wrestlers  who  represented  their  regiments  and 
schools  in  the  inter-regimental  matches  which  made  up 
the  weekly  shows.  They  developed  such  clever  youths 
as  Schmader,  Dowd,  Kendall,  Johnson,  Gavin,  Corbin, 


GREAT  LAKES'  ATHLETIC  RECORD       163 

Henry,  Craddock,  Doyle,  Gladstone,  Favor,  Karl, 
Miller,  Emro,  Bushe,  Powers,  Gilbert,  Counzelman, 
Witt,  Romero,  Stein,  McGuire,  Ford,  Swartz,  Mazurka, 
Neu,  Bryant,  Burke,  Kelley,  Shields,  Dahl,  Gall,  Pikter, 
Lindgren,  Frigher,  Richi,  Hodja,  Cohen,  Wicker  and 
Farr. 

The  rule  that  was  followed,  without  exception,  was 
to  allow  no  professional  to  enter  the  ring,  and  to  permit 
no  contests  in  localities  where  boxing  was  illegal,  unless 
specific  permission  was  granted  for  such  bouts  by  the 
city  officials. 

The  popularity  of  boxing  at  Great  Lakes  was  vouched 
for  by  such  fighters  as  Jess  Willard,  Jack  Dempsey,  Jim 
Corbett,  Bat  Nelson,  Eddie  McGoorty,  Charlie  White 
and  Ad  Wolgast,  all  of  whom  were  frequent  specta- 
tors at  the  ringside,  and  sometimes  acted  as  referees. 

During  1918,  track  athletics  came  to  the  front.  The 
Great  Lakes  track  team  won  the  Central  A.  A.  U.  out- 
door track  championships,  was  runner  up  in  the  Central 
A.  A.  U.  Indoor  Track  Meet,  and  won  the  Army-Navy 
championships  in  the  Senior  National  Track  Meet  held 
at  Great  Lakes. 

For  the  Central  A.  A.  U.  Indoor  Track  Meet,  held 
at  Great  Lakes  on  April  6,  1918,  the  Station  constructed 
one  of  the  finest  indoor  tracks  in  the  history  of  the 
games.  This  was  an  oval  board  track,  15  ft.  wide  and 
but  six  laps  to  the  mile,  with  a  central  straightaway 
20- ft.  wide  and  so  long  that  it  was  possible,  for  the  first 
time  in  track  history,  to  hold  the  120  yd.  high  and  low 
hurdles  indoors.  This  track,  with  its  oval  turns,  was 
constructed  in  the  Camp  Dewey's  6oo-ft.  drill  hall  by 
bluejacket  carpenters,  under  the  direction  of  Chief 


i64     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

Carpenter  C.  J.  Lishman  and  Frank  E.  Cox  of  the  Pub- 
lic Works  Department.  The  seating  capacity  was  10,- 
ooo. 

By  September,  1918,  Great  Lakes  had  completed  its 
wonderful  outdoor  track  field,  consisting  of  a  quarter- 
mile  oval,  a  220  yd.  straightaway,  and  the  now  famous 
440  yd.  straightaway.  On  this  field  were  conducted 
the  National  Outdoor  Senior  and  Junior  track  cham- 
pionships. Both  of  these  championships  were  won  by 
the  Chicago  Athletic  Association,  which  was  fortunate 
in  having  several  of  its  best  point  winners  furloughed 
from  the  various  service  camps.  Great  Lakes  won  sec- 
ond place  in  the  Senior  Championships,  and  Pelham 
Bay,  the  big  Naval  Training  Station  just  outside  of 
New  York,  won  second  place  in  the  Junior  Champion- 
ships. A  considerable  number  of  Army  and  Navy 
camps  were  represented,  but  as  Great  Lakes  scored 
more  points  in  the  Senior  Championships  than  any  of 
these,  Great  Lakes  was  awarded  the  National  Service 
Championship.  This  was  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the 
meet  was  held  during  the  period  in  which  the  influenza 
epidemic  struck  Great  Lakes.  The  influenza  and  minor 
injuries  robbed  Great  Lakes  for  the  time  being  of  such 
athletes  as  Andy  Ward,  National  100  and  220  yd.  cham- 
pion, Eddie  Fall,  conference  mile  champion,  Benz,  a  con- 
sistent point  winner  in  the  shot-put  and  discus,  and  sev- 
eral lesser  athletes  who  had  been  depended  upon  to 
gather  a  point  here  and  there. 

Franz  Marceau  was  in  charge  of  the  track  athletes. 
The  Great  Lakes  point  winners  in  the  National  meet 
were:  Arthur  Henke,  winner  of  the  Senior  and  Junior 
100  yd.  events;  Murchison,  winner  of  the  Senior  220 
yd.  event ;  Hause,  winner  of  the  Senior  440  yd.  hurdles ; 


GREAT  LAKES'  ATHLETIC  RECORD      165 

Muller,  winner  of  the  Senior  discus  event;  Allman,  sec- 
ond and  fourth  in  the  Senior  56-lb.  shot-put ;  Knoureck, 
second  in  the  Senior  pole  vault;  Gilfellan,  second  in  the 
Senior  discus  event;  and  Reidel,  fourth  in  the  120  yd. 
hurdles. 

In  the  Junior  National  Meet  the  Great  Lakes  point 
winners  were  Hause,  Boeddecker,  Windrow,  Allman, 
Wilkins,  Leffler  and  Arthur  Henke.  It  was  this  latter 
stripling  who,  although  sick  when  he  went  on  to  the 
field,  sent  word  to  Commander  Kaufman  that  he  would 
run  anyhow  and  do  his  best  for  Great  Lakes.  He  won 
the  Junior  and  Senior  100  yd.  dash,  and  in  winning  the 
latter  proved  his  superiority  over  the  best  in  the  coun- 
try. For  several  months  after  the  meet  Henke  was  a 
dangerously  ill  sailor. 

This  National  A.  A.  U.  meet,  held  at  Great  Lakes 
on  September  21,  22  and  23,  1918,  was  one  of  the 
greatest  track  meets  ever  held  in  America.  Over  in 
the  sand-pit  a  lithe  aviator  from  Canada  was  gracefully 
leaping  over  the  jumping  standards;  down  near  the 
bleachers  a  husky  marine  from  the  South  was  swinging 
a  metal  disc;  while  on  the  cinder  track  a  Great  Lakes 
sailor,  a  doughboy  from  the  Far  West,  and  a  civilian 
from  the  Atlantic  seaboard  were  sprinting  for  the  finish 
tape  at  breakneck  speed.  This  is  a  characteristic  pic- 
ture of  the  athletic  field  at  Great  Lakes,  when  track  and 
field  athletes,  representing  every  section  of  the  country, 
collaborated  in  their  efforts  to  give  Great  Lakes  the 
distinction  of  entertaining  the  greatest  "made  in 
America"  athletic  carnival. 

More  than  seven  hundred  service  and  civilian  athletes 
participated  in  the  three-day  event.  Their  jerseys  bore 
the  colors  or  design  of  nineteen  civilian  athletic  organi- 


1 66     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

zations,  eighteen  Army  and  Navy  camps,  and  six  uni- 
versities. There  may  have  been  other  athletic  meets 
held  in  America  during  which  more  new  records  were 
established,  or  in  which  there  were  a  greater  number 
of  contestants,  but,  in  the  general  summary,  this  1918 
meet  eclipsed  all  of  its  predecessors.  The  military  note 
predominated.  According  to  such  amateur  athletic 
potentates  as  Charles  A.  Dean,  President  of  the  Nat- 
ional A.  A.  U.,  Frederick  Rubien  and  Justice  Bartow 
Weekes,  no  athletic  affair  of  such  magnitude  had  ever 
been  so  smoothly  conducted.  Not  one  protest,  accident, 
or  mishap  of  any  kind  blemished  the  record  of  the  three- 
day  competition — which  is  a  tribute  to  the  efficiency  of 
the  athletic  system  established  at  Great  Lakes. 

The  Great  Lakes  football  team  of  1918  played  a  stiff 
schedule  of  games  without  a  single  defeat,  proving  that 
it  had  no  superior  in  the  country,  either  among  the 
service  or  the  university  teams.  It  won  victories  over 
Iowa,  Illinois,  Purdue,  Rutgers,  Annapolis  and  the 
Mare  Island  Marines. 

This  team  was  in  the  early  part  of  the  season  coached 
by  Herman  P.  Olcott  and  Frank  Haggerty,  and  later 
by  Lieut.  C.  J.  McReavy,  U.  S.  N.,  assisted  by  Dana 
Morrison.  Its  personnel  was  composed  of  men  who 
had  previously  represented  some  college  team  and  in- 
cluded Emmett  Keefe,  Notre  Dame,  (Captain) ;  J.  P. 
Combe,  George  Tech;  H.  A.  Ivy,  Lawrence  High, 
Kas. ;  F.  W.  Swanekamp,  Superior  High,  Wis. ;  L.  B. 
Andrew,  Kansas  Manual  Training  Normal;  J.  R.  Col- 
lins, Bayler  Institute,  Tex. ;  H.  E.  Welch,  Toledo  High ; 
V.  R.  Richards,  Alma  College,  Mich ;  H.  W.  Bliss,  Ohio 
State;  J.  L.  Doherty,  Cincinnati  Subs;  Bert  Griffith, 
St.  Louis ;  C.  L.  Paulsen,  Kansas  State  Normal ;  W.  M. 


GREAT  LAKES'  ATHLETIC  RECORD       167 

Byers,  Ames,  Iowa;  Charlie  Bachman,  Notre  Dame; 
Paddy  Driscoll,  Northwestern;  Harry  A.  Eilson, 
Northwestern;  Jimmy  Counzelman,  Washington  U; 
C.  G.  Langenstein,  Freeport  High;  E.  J.  Abrahamson, 
Lawrence  College,  Wis. ;  W.  O.  McClellan,  West  Vir- 
ginia Wesleyan ;  H.  S.  Lauer,  University  Detroit ;  Harry 
A.  Erickson,  St.  Olaf;  F.  R.  Willaman,  Ohio  State; 
R.  W.  Williams,  Kansas  Normal;  A.  J.  Reeves,  Ottawa 
University,  Kan.;  B.  H.  Miller,  Bridgewater  High, 
Iowa;  C.  S.  Bernard,  Springfield  Normal,  Mo;  Jerry 
Jones,  Notre  Dame;  George  Halas,  Illinois;  R.  W. 
Reichle,  Illinois;  L.  S.  Bernard,  Springfield  Normal, 
Mo.;  C.  L.  Ecklund,  Minnesota  University;  C.  H. 
Knight,  Northwestern;  J.  W.  Mosser,  Penn.  State; 
F.  H.  Thomas,  Northwestern;  Hugh  M.  Blacklock, 
Michigan  Aggies;  M.  H.  Conrad,  Kalamazoo  College, 

By  virtue  of  its  victories  over  Rutgers  and  Annapolis 
in  the  East  and  its  undefeated  contests  with  the  middle 
western  teams,  including  Illinois  (7-0)  this  team  was 
selected  by  the  Tournament  of  Roses  Committee  of 
Pasadena,  California,  to  play  the  best  western  (Coast) 
team  for  the  football  supremacy  of  the  United  States. 
The  game  was  played  at  Pasadena,  Cal.,  on  New  Years 
Day,  1919,  Great  Lakes  being  opposed  by  the  strong 
team  representing  the  Mare  Island  Marines  (Cham- 
pions of  West  Coast  by  elimination  contests).  The 
score  was  17-0  in  Great  Lakes  favor,  and,  as  a  result 
of  this,  Mr.  Walter  Camp  declared  the  Great  Lakes 
Team  to  be  the  undisputed  football  champions  of  the 
United  States. 

During  the  football  season  of  1918  fifteen  regimental 
and  school  football  teams  were  organized.  A  full  sea- 
son was  played  and  after  a  gruelling  struggle  the 


1 68     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

7th  Regiment  (Radio  School)  was  declared  the  winner. 

The  Great  Lakes  basketball  team  of  1918  played 
twenty-six  games  and  defeated  the  following  teams; 
Lake  Forest;  Bloomington;  Wisconsin  University  (two 
games) ;  Illinois;  Northwestern  (two  games) ;  Chicago; 
Northwestern  College;  James  Millikin  University; 
Bloomington  Nationals;  Bradley  Polytechnical  Inst. ; 
Knox  College ;  Fort  Wayne,  Ind. ;  Detroit  Rayls ;  Kala- 
mazoo  College;  Warrensburg  Normal  School  (two 
games);  Camp  Sherman;  Rochester  N.  Y.  Centrals; 
and  the  University  of  Buffalo. 

The  personnel  of  the  team  comprises  John  Felmley, 
(Captain)  Illinois  University;  Paddy  Driscoll,  North- 
western; George  Halas,  Illinois;  "Con"  Eklund,  Minne- 
sota U;  Bill  Chandler,  Wisconsin  U;  "Chief"  Gurnoe, 
Carlisle;  "Dizzy"  Wassenaar,  Grinnell  College;  Otto 
Steager,  Northwestern  College,  Naperville ;  R.  A.  West, 
James  Millikin  U;  Ralph  Allard,  Iowa;  Ed  Zwicky, 
Madison  High.  Also  Foley,  Bill  Johnson  and  Kircher 
participated  in  the  first  few  games,  but  were  mustered 
out  in  the  early  part  of  the  season.  The  team  was 
coached  by  Mr.  Herman  P.  Olcott. 

During  the  basketball  season,  1918-19,  Great  Lakes 
had  seventeen  regimental  basketball  teams,  all  fully 
equipped.  These  regimental  teams  were  divided  into 
two  leagues,  one  playing  on  Mondays  and  Thursdays 
of  each  week,  while  the  other  played  on  Tuesdays  and 
Fridays.  The  leagues  were  named  from  the  days  they 
played,  Monthurs  and  Tuef  ris.  These  individual  teams 
were  made  up  of  excellent  material  and  the  games  were 
played  before  great  crowds  of  bluejackets.  The  team 
representing  Aviation  (i5th  Regiment)  was  declared 
the  winner  of  the  Monthur  league  and  the  3rd  Regi- 


GREAT  LAKES'  ATHLETIC  RECORD       169 

ment  of  the  Tuefri  league.  These  representative  teams 
then  battled  for  the  Station  supremacy  in  a  series  of 
three  games,  Aviation  winning  two  straight  games  and 
thereby  earning  the  title  of  Inter-regimental  Champion's 
for  the  year. 

Great  Lakes  fostered  many  other  branches  of  sport. 
It  had  a  representative  hockey  team  playing  games  in 
various  cities,  and  boasted  of  the  fastest  ice  skater  in 
America — Art  Staff.  It  also  had  such  skaters  as  Gold- 
stein, captain  of  the  racing  team;  and  Laury  Peterson, 
of  Chicago,  and  George  Martin,  of  Milwaukee.  It  also 
had  the  greatest  amateur  ski  jumper  in  America — 
Einar  Jensen. 

Cage  ball,  push  ball  and  many  like  games  were  en- 
couraged. The  Great  Lakes  soccer  football  team  was 
victorious  in  the  majority  of  its  games. 

The  latter  part  of  1918,  the  Patriotic  Bowling  As- 
sociation of  Illinois  presented  Great  Lakes  with  ten 
bowling  alleys  at  a  cost  of  $8000.  These  bowling  alleys 
had  no  superior  in  the  country.  With  their  completion, 
bowling  teams  were  organized  and  competed  in  various 
contents  in  the  vicinity  of  Great  Lakes.  The  men  most 
responsible  for  the  success  of  the  bowling  teams  were: 
Sykes  Thoma,  Clark  Moses,  Frank  Kafora,  Oswald 
Carmichael,  Frank  Miller  and  Marshall  Moore. 

This  chapter  would  not  be  complete  without  a  word 
of  praise  for  the  three  men  whose  ability  as  trainers 
assisted  so  materially  in  keeping  Great  Lakes  athletes 
on  edge.  These  bluejackets  were  Fritz  Zehner,  K.  F. 
Miller  and  Doc  Rose.  Nor  should  the  men  who  worked 
unceasingly  as  assistants  to  Commander  J.  B.  Kaufman 
in  the  Athletic  Office  be  forgotten.  This  staff  included 
Johnny  Coolidge,  Carl  Hellberg,  Bill  Edwards,  Chet 


170     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

Faust,  Babe  Stillwell,  Lute  White,  Otto  Devinney,  Dick 
Leahey,  Savy  Sedgewick,  Cy  Ward,  Grut  Waite,  "Three 
I"  Gillford,  Fritz  McNally,  Bill  McClellen,  Happy 
Seigel,  "Cautious"  Hopkins,  Norm  Kline,  Bill  Ryan, 
King  Kruegel  and  Charlie  Kuhn.  Several  of  these  men 
became  commissioned  officers  before  the  signing  of  the 
armistice. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  WELFARE   ORGANIZATIONS 

ONE  of  the  prime  requisites  of  military  training 
is  a  high  morale.     There  is  no  way  in  which 
this  can  be  better  accomplished  than  by  afford- 
ing the  men  under  arms  the  little  comforts  that  they 
find  missing  in  their  transition  from  civil  to  military 
life. 

The  Naval  organization  had  a  hundred  and  one  ex- 
ceptionally important  things  to  accomplish,  therefore, 
it  had  not  the  time  to  provide  for  the  smaller,  although 
very  important,  details  having  to  do  with  the  personal 
welfare  of  the  men. 

To  the  boys  at  Great  Lakes  there  was  a  big,  compre- 
hensible meaning  in  the  word  "Home."  There  was  a 
difference  between  barrack-life  and  home-life  that  was 
hard  to  bridge — it  must  be  remembered  that  the  major- 
ity of  the  boys  at  Great  Lakes  came  more  directly  from 
the  influence  of  their  mothers  than  the  recruits  of  any 
other  branch  of  the  service.  To  bridge  this  was  the 
task  of  such  organizations  as  the  Illinois  Auxiliary  of 
the  Naval  Relief  Society,  the  American  Red  Cross,  the 
Y.  W.  C.  A.,  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  the  Jewish  Welfare  Board, 
the  Lutheran  Brotherhood,  the  Christian  Science  War 
Relief  and  Camp  Welfare  Committee,  and  the  Knights 
of  Columbus. 

171 


172     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

ILLINOIS    AUXILIARY    NAVY    RELIEF    SOCIETY 

The  Navy  Relief  Society,  organized  in  1904  by  Ad- 
miral George  Dewey,  has  for  its  purpose  the  protection 
of  the  families  and  dependents  of  officers  and  enlisted 
men  in  the  Marine  Corps,  the  Navy,  the  Naval  Militia 
and  the  Naval  Reserve  Force. 

If  a  man  is  lost  at  sea,  or  in  any  service  whatever, 
leaving  a  family  in  need,  the  Navy  Relief  Society  steps 
in  and  assumes  financial  responsibility,  providing  amply. 
Arrangements  are  made  whereby  children  may  continue 
their  education.  Widows  are  taught  vocations,  and 
employment  is  found  for  them.  Helpless  dependents 
are  cared  for  until  death. 

Quite  naturally  the  Illinois  Auxiliary  of  the  Navy 
Relief  Society,  organized  in  1916,  with  Great  Lakes  as 
its  headquarters,  was  the  largest  chapter  of  the  organi- 
zation during  the  war  period.  With  a  membership  of 
approximately  25,000,  it  was  the  haven  of  refuge  for 
thousands  of  bluejackets  who  were  in  distress,  or  whose 
dependents  were. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  it  was  apparent  that  the 
Navy  Relief  Society  could  not  long  survive,  if  it  re- 
mained dependent  alone  upon  its  uniformed  member- 
ship for  support,  so  the  aid  of  civilians  was  enlisted. 
The  treasury  of  the  Illinois  Auxiliary  received  many 
thousands  of  dollars  from  entertainments,  shows  and 
other  enterprises,  but  principally  through  the  production 
of  "Leave  it  to  the  Sailors,"  and  "The  Great  Lakes' 
Revue,"  two  theatrical  or  musical  offerings  in  which 
only  Great  Lakes  bluejacket  talent  appeared. 

The  Illinois  Auxiliary  also  operated  the  canteen  and 
cafeteria  on  the  Main  Station  at  Great  Lakes,  which 


THE  WELFARE  ORGANIZATIONS         173 

also  produced  a  considerable  amount  of  revenue  for 
benevolent  purposes. 

Other  states  in  the  Ninth,  Tenth  and  Eleventh  Naval 
Districts  had  auxiliaries  of  the  Navy  Relief  Society, 
but  their  activities  were  confined  to  their  own  states, 
and  they  operated  through  Washington.  The  Illinois 
Auxiliary  also  operated  through  Washington,  but  due 
to  the  fact  that  Great  Lakes  is  located  within  its  jurisdic- 
tion its  field  for  local  work  during  the  war  was  of  tre- 
mendous proportion. 

"How  can  the  Navy  Relief  help  but  conflict  with  the 
American  Red  Cross?"  was  a  question  often  asked. 
But  there  was  no  duplication  of  effort,  because  the  func- 
tions of  every  one  of  the  organizations  in  operation  on 
or  near  Great  Lakes  was  clearly  defined,  and  each  had  its 
separate  line  of  endeavor.  The  sweaters,  comfort  kits, 
and  knitted  articles  donated  by  the  Red  Cross  were  dis- 
tributed at  Great  Lakes  by  the  Navy  Relief  organiza- 
tion. 

The  officers  of  the  Illinois  Auxiliary  of  the  Navy 
Relief  Society  during  the  war  period  were:  Honorary 
President,  Captain  William  A.  Moffett,  U.  S.  N. ;  Presi- 
dent, Mrs.  WT.  A.  Moffett;  First  Vice-President,  Lieu- 
tenant Commander  James  Grimes,  U.  S.  N. ;  Second 
Vice-President,  Commander  J.  B.  Kaufman,  U.  S.  N. ; 
Third  Vice-President,  Lieutenant  Commander  C.  S. 
Roberts,  U.  S.  N. ;  Fourth  Vice-President,  Lieutenant 
Commander  A.  C.  Wilhelm,  U.  S.  N. ;  Civilian  Vice- 
Presidents,  John  J.  Mitchell,  Charles  Swift,  Governor 
Lowden,  Ambrose  Cramer,  John  C.  Pitcher,  Archbishop 
Mundelain,  Arthur  T.  Aldis,  Byron  T.  Harvey,  Mrs. 
J.  Ogden  Armour,  J.  Allen  Haines,  Charles  H.  Wacker, 
Miss  Lolita  Armour,  H.  C.  Chatfield  Taylor,  Max  Pam, 


174     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

Ira  J.  Couch,  and  J.  O.  Hinkley;  Secretary,  Lieutenant 
J.  D.  Doyle,  U.  S.  N. ;  Assistant  Executive  Secretary, 
Lieutenant  K.  S.  Goodman,  U.  S.  N.  R.  F.  (deceased) ; 
Corresponding  Secretary,  Ensign  J.  J.  Boyle ;  Recording 
Secretary,  Chief  Yeoman,  R.  J.  Mason;  Treasurer, 
Lieutenant  Commander  R.  S.  Robertson,  U.  S.  N. ;  As- 
sistant Treasurer,  Chief  Yeoman  T.  H.  Durst;  Mem- 
bers of  the  Executive  Committee:  Captain  W.  A.  Mof- 
fett,  Mrs.  W.  A.  Moffett,  J.  J.  Mitchell,  Ambrose 
Cramer,  A.  T.  Aldis,  H.  S.  Chatfield-Taylor,  Mrs.  J. 
Ogden  Armour,  Lieutenant  K.  S.  Goodman  (deceased), 
Charles  Swift,  Phillip  Warriner,  Lieutenant  Com- 
mander A.  C.  Wilhelm,  Lieutenant  Commander  C.  S. 
Roberts,  Commander  J.  D.  Willson,  J.  C.  Pitcher,  Byron 
T.  Harvey,  Chaplain  Thompson,  Commander  J.  B. 
Kaufman,  Hugh  Fisher,  Lieutenant  Commander  Rut- 
ter,  Ensign  J.  J.  Boyle,  Lieutenant  G.  C.  Isbester,  En- 
sign W.  E.  Clow,  Jr.,  Lieutenant  J.  D.  Doyle,  Captain 
Odell,  Lieutenant  C.  S.  Dewey,  Keene  Addington,  Lieu- 
tenant Commander  R.  S.  Robertson,  Chaplain  Moore, 
Captain  Evers,  Ensign  Abrams,  R.  J.  Mason. 

THE   AMERICAN    RED    CROSS 

At  Great  Lakes,  as  elsewhere  through  wide  areas  of 
territory  in  this  and  other  countries,  the  work  of  the 
American  Red  Cross  was  the  filling  in  of  the  little  fis- 
sures bound  to  show  in  such  an  emergency,  adding  a 
humanizing  touch  here  and  there  in  order  to  create  a 
condition  smoother  to  the  understanding  and  sympa- 
thies than  would  otherwise  have  been  the  case. 

Operating  within  the  loosely  defined  limits  set  for  it 
by  the  Navy  Department,  conforming  in  every  respect 
to  its  rules  and  regulations,  these  organizations  found  it 


THE  WELFARE  ORGANIZATIONS         175 

entirely  feasible  to  add  to  the  happiness  of  the  officers 
and  men  at  Great  Lakes,  to  contribute  to  their  material 
and  spiritual  comfort. 

Early  in  the  spring  of  1918  the  American  Red  Cross 
saw  the  need  of  a  convalescent  home  in  the  section  at 
Great  Lakes  occupied  by  the  Hospital  Group.  The  site 
was  selected  in  conference  with  the  Station  officials, 
ground  was  broken,  construction  begun,  and  on  June 
12,  1918,  the  much  needed  Red  Cross  House  was  com- 
pleted and  put  to  immediate  use. 

The  Red  Cross  House  provided  both  bed  and  board 
for  the  relatives  and  friends  who  visited  the  patients. 
It  contained  a  naval  hospital  canteen,  with  the  necessary 
offices  and  conveniences.  A  large  assembly  room,  with 
a  stage  for  theatrical  and  other  entertainments,  was  one 
of  its  most  notable  features.  In  this  room  many  dra- 
matic, musical  and  intellectual  diversions,  as  well  as 
games  of  many  kinds,  were  provided  for  the  men  con- 
valescing from  accident  or  illness.  Stationery  was  fur- 
nished in  large  quantities  to  give  these  sailors  the  chance 
so  eagerly  seized  to  write  letters  home.  More  than 
10,000  letters  were  mailed  out  of  the  Convalescent  Home 
every  month. 

During  the  influenza  epidemic,  in  the  early  autumn 
of  1918,  the  Red  Cross  House  provided  shelter  and  com- 
fort for  hundreds  of  mothers,  fathers  and  other  close 
relatives  of  dangerously  ill  sailors.  More  than  a  hun- 
dred such  people,  called  to  Great  Lakes  by  the  urgency 
of  the  illness,  were  provided  for  every  night.  The  cots 
provided  for  them  were  all  numbered  and  a  careful  reg- 
ister was  kept,  so  that  any  summons  from  the  hospital 
could  be  quickly  met.  Other  services  rendered  to  the 
relatives  of  sick  men  included  the  making  of  arrange- 


i76     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

ments  for  trains  and  sleeping  berths,  and  the  provision 
and  operation  of  automobiles  to  carry  them  back  and 
forth  between  the  hospital  and  the  railway  stations. 

To  assist  in  the  care  of  the  hundreds  of  patients  at 
the  Hospital,  the  American  Red  Cross  sent  out  to  the 
Station  seventy-five  of  its  own  nurses,  while  thirty  more 
were  used  to  serve  the  urgent  needs  in  the  families  of 
officers  and  enlisted  men  living  in  the  surrounding  towns. 
It  also  supplied,  within  a  few  hours  after  the  request, 
five  motor  ambulances  to  aid  in  carrynig  the  stricken 
sailors  from  the  camps  to  the  Hospital. 

In  reference  to  this  work,  Mr.  Charles  T.  Atkinson, 
who  became  Field  Director  of  the  American  Red  Cross 
at  Great  Lakes  on  September  i,  1918,  received  the  fol- 
lowing letter  from  the  office  of  the  Commandant,  signed 
by  Lieutenant  Commander  J.  M.  Grimes:  "I  avail  my- 
self of  this  opportunity  to  express  to  you  and  to  your 
associates  in  the  conduct  of  the  affairs  of  the  American 
Red  Cross  at  the  Hospital  and  at  the  Training  Station, 
my  profound  appreciation  of  the  splendid  cooperation 
extended  by  your  organization  during  the  period  of  the 
recent  epidemic  of  influenza.  You  cannot  realize  how 
timely  and  how  valuable  this  assistance  was  in  our  ef- 
forts to  control  and  suppress  this  epidemic,  properly 
care  for  the  patients  and  their  relatives,  and  otherwise 
meet  conditions  of  an  unprecedented  character.  I  was 
particularly  impressed  by  the  manner  in  which  the 
American  Red  Cross  anticipated  every  want  of  the  men 
and  their  relatives,  and  the  prompt,  effective  and  satis- 
factory manner  in  which  they  were  supplied.  We  are 
under  a  debt  of  everlasting  gratitude  to  you  and  your 
associates,  and  at  this  time  I  shall  have  to  content  my- 
self with  a  simple  expression  of  our  sincere  thanks." 


THE  WELFARE  ORGANIZATIONS         177 

Still  another  activity  was  carried  on  by  the  American 
Red  Cross  in  connection  with  the  U.  S.  Naval  Hospital 
at  Great  Lakes.  Beginning  in  August,  1917,  the  Lake 
Forest  Branch  of  the  Chicago  Chapter  of  the  American 
Red  Cross  took  upon  itself  the  work  of  supplying  the 
hospital  with  thousands  of  surgical  articles,  all  of  which 
were  greatly  needed  and  hardly  to  be  had,  owing  to  the 
general  demand.  During  1917,  the  Lake  Forest  Branch 
provided  6000  sponges,  1750  compresses,  and  hundreds 
of  rolls,  laparotomy  pads,  drains  and  the  like.  This 
work  was  continued  through  1918,  but  with  materials 
furnished  by  the  Navy.  During  September  and  Octo- 
ber, 1918,  the  Lake  Forest  Branch  sent  to  Great  Lakes 
2000  masks  for  the  better  control  of  the  influenza  epi- 
demic. 

In  addition,  the  Chicago  Navy  Auxiliary  of  the  Amer- 
ican Red  Cross  sent  to  Great  Lakes  nearly  20,000  hos- 
pital garments  and  300,000  surgical  dressings  of  all 
kinds. 

Great  Lakes  received  recruits  in  no  small  number 
from  the  Southern  States  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  even 
from  as  far  as  the  western  boundary  of  Texas.  These 
young  men  came  to  the  Station  with  no  preparation  for 
the  rigors  of  a  northern  winter,  and  the  winter  of 
1917-18  was  unusually  bitter  and  prolonged.  There- 
fore, it  is  not  over  estimation  to  state  that  the  Red  Cross 
supply  of  knitted  goods  prevented  much  illness  and  great 
suffering.  The  grand  total  of  sweaters,  socks,  helmets, 
mufflers  and  wristlets  given  out,  all  knitted  goods,  was 
close  to  200,000.  Close  to  60,000  comfort  kits  were 
also  given  out.  This  was  the  record  of  the  Department 
of  Military  Relief.  Complementing  this,  the  Depart- 
ment of  Civilian  Relief  provided  nearly  20,000  garments 


178     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

to  the  families  of  sailors  living  in  the  vicinity  of  Great 
Lakes. 

In  the  late  summer  of  1918  still  another  phase  was 
added  to  the  activities  of  the  American  Red  Cross  at 
Great  Lakes.  This  was  the  work  of  the  Home  Service 
branch  of  the  organization  in  caring  for  the  dependents 
of  the  men  in  the  service.  It  was  carried  on  under  the 
direction  of  Mr.  L.  H.  Stafford,  Associate  Field  Di- 
rector in  charge  of  Home  Service  in  the  Bureau  of 
Civilian  Relief.  His  assistants  were  Mr.  D.  H.  Mc- 
Gregor, in  charge  of  the  Main  Station  and  of  Incoming 
Detention ;  Mr.  J.  W.  Jorgenson,  in  charge  of  the  Avia- 
tion Camp ;  Mr.  S.  E.  Spencer,  in  charge  of  Camp  Luce ; 
Mr.  A.  J.  F.  McBean,  in  charge  of  Camp  Paul  Jones; 
Mr.  P.  J.  Hoffman,  in  charge  of  Camp  Dewey;  and  Mr. 
U.  S.  Villars,  in  charge  of  Camp  Perry.  The  work  of 
these  men  was  to  free  the  minds  of  the  sailors  of  any 
cause  for  worry  regarding  their  families.  They  ex- 
tended hearty  invitations  to  every  man  in  the  service  to 
come  to  them  with  their  home  troubles.  With  more 
than  3000  chapters  of  the  Red  Cross  throughout 
the  country  it  was  found  possible  in  every  case, 
after  verifying  the  statements  of  the  men,  to  aid 
the  loved  ones  at  home.  During  September,  1918, 
the  first  month  that  the  service  was  in  operation, 
five  hundred  worthy  families  were  relieved;  in  Oc- 
tober, one  thousand;  and  in  November,  one  thou- 
sand four  hundred — not  as  a  charity,  but  as  a  duty. 

A  recruit  in  Camp  Farragut,  for  instance,  after  hear- 
ing the  invitation  of  the  Assistant  Field  Director  de- 
tailed to  Incoming  Detention  to  come  forward  with  his 
troubles,  remarked  rather  casually  that  he  had  left  his 
wife  with  only  a  dollar  or  two,  but  it  would  be  all  right 


THE  WELFARE  ORGANIZATIONS         179 

as  he  would  send  her  his  pay  every  Saturday  night. 
The  question  of  family  allotments  was,  of  course,  a 
somewhat  complicated  one,  demanding  much  book-keep- 
ing in  Washington  and  elsewhere,  so  the  field  direction 
knew  that  it  might  be  several  weeks  before  that  par- 
ticular wife  received  any  money.  As  a  result,  she  was 
provided  for  through  the  chapter  of  the  Red  Cross  in 
her  locality  before  she  had  come  to  want. 

Mr.  Julian  R.  Steward  was  the  Field  Director  of  the 
American  Red  Cross  at  Great  Lakes  up  to  September 
i,  1918,  when  he  was  relieved  by  Mr.  Charles  T.  At- 
kinson. Mr.  W.  D.  Benjamin  was  the  first  Assistant 
Field  Director,  but  he  was  relieved  in  August,  1918,  by 
Mr.  H.  W.  Patterson.  At  the  same  time,  Mr.  Charles 
G.  Bolte  became  Associate  Field  Director  in  immediate 
charge  of  the  hospital  activities.  His  assistants  were 
Mr.  George  H.  Dunham,  in  charge  of  the  field  service, 
and  Mr.  Vern  P.  Farrer,  in  charge  of  supplies. 

THE  Y.  w.  c.  A. 

The  work  of  the  Y.  W.  C.  A.  in  helping  to  bridge  the 
gap  between  the  home  and  the  training  camp  was  of 
considerable  importance  at  Great  Lakes.  In  its  two 
commodious  and  delightfully  cozy  and  homelike  Hostess 
Houses  was  found  that  touch  of  femininity  so  utterly 
lacking  in  the  military  orderliness  of  the  barracks. 
These  houses  were  a  haven  for  young  sailors  as  well  as 
for  the  women  folk  who  came  to  visit  them. 

The  Hostess  Houses  of  the  War  Work  Council  of  the 
National  Board  of  the  Y.  W.  C.  A.  solved  the  problem 
which  arose  in  every  camp  and  cantonment  throughout 
the  country — that  of  meeting  the  needs  of  the  civilian 
relatives  and  friends  of  the  men.  In  August,  1917, 


i8o     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

Captain  Moffett  asked  for  a  Hostess  House,  to  be 
erected  near  the  Main  Gate.  This  structure,  built  along 
the  lines  of  a  California  bungalow,  was  opened  to  the 
sailors  of  Great  Lakes  and  their  relatives  and  friends 
on  January  i,  1918.  It  consisted  of  a  large  enclosed 
porch,  a  combination  living  and  tea  room,  a  woman's  rest 
room,  a  nursery  and  an  emergency  room.  The  wide  en- 
closed porch  or  sun  parlor  gave  the  Hostess  House  a 
strikingly  comfortable  and  home-like  appearance.  All 
the  rooms  were  furnished  with  exquisite  taste,  and  the 
wicker  furniture — the  kind  that  looks  cool  and  comfort- 
able— was  arranged  in  such  a  way  that  groups  of  friends 
could  talk  and  visit  without  being  disturbed  by  other 
groups.  Great  fireplaces  added  to  the  coziness  during 
the  winter  months. 

By  the  early  spring  of  1918  this  Hostess  House  had 
become  so  popular  among  the  sailors  and  civilian  vis- 
itors that  Captain  Moffett  sent  in  an  urgent  request  that 
it  be  enlarged  to  more  than  twice  its  size,  so  as  to  include 
a  large  cafeteria  and  greatly  to  enlarge  the  other  ac- 
commodations. Furthermore,  he  requested  that  at 
least  one  other  Hostess  House  be  built,  for  the  accom- 
modation of  the  sailors  and  civilian  visitors  in  Camps 
Dewey  and  Perry.  Both  these  requests  were  carried 
out,  and  the  second  Hostess  House,  quite  different  in 
architecture,  was  ready  for  occupancy  on  July  10,  1918, 
near  the  main  gate  of  Camp  Dewey. 

It  would  be  hard  to  enumerate  all  the  needs  of  civilian 
visitors  which  were  met  by  the  Hostess  Houses.  They 
were  not  only  the  meeting  places  for  thousands  upon 
thousands  of  sailors  and  civilian  visitors,  but  places 
where  women  visitors  could  take  their  troubles  and  have 


THE  WELFARE  ORGANIZATIONS         181 

them  solved.  If  they  found  it  difficult  to  locate  a  son, 
husband  or  brother  in  the  multiplicity  of  training  camps, 
they  came  to  the  secretaries  of  the  Hostess  Houses  for 
help.  Its  battery  of  telephones  was  kept  almost  con- 
stantly busy  locating  sailors  and  connecting  them  up 
with  relatives  or  friends.  Sometimes,  after  a  futile 
search  of  many  hours,  the  visitors  who  came  to  the 
Hostess  Houses  succeeded  in  locating  their  men  almost 
immediately. 

The  number  of  visitors  taken  care  of  by  the  Hostess 
Houses  average  more  than  10,000  on  the  regular  weekly 
review  days,  more  than  3000  on  Sundays,  and  between 
six  and  seven  hundred  on  ordinary  days.  It  may  be  well 
to  state  here  that  although  Wednesdays  and  Sundays 
were  designated  as  Visitors'  Days  at  Great  Lakes,  any 
civilians  coming  from  a  considerable  distance  to  see  par- 
ticular men  were  admitted  on  any  day.  Such  visitors 
were  usually  directed  to  the  Hostess  Houses  as  the  most 
likely  places  in  which  to  connect  up  with  the  sailors  they 
wished  to  see.  As  a  result,  the  secretaries  of  the  Host- 
ess Houses  acted  as  a  "get-together"  medium  with  fine 
results.  Nearly  every  day  more  than  a  hundred  sailors 
were  located  and  connected  up  by  telephone  with  visiting 
relatives  or  friends.  This  meant  a  great  many  tele- 
phone calls,  often  as  many  as  twelve  calls  being  required 
to  locate  one  man. 

Every  week  the  Hostess  Houses  received  anywhere 
from  fifty  to  one  hundred  inquiries  from  relatives  of 
sailors  as  to  rooms  available  in  the  neighboring  towns : 
These  women  were  sent  to  responsible  parties  who  had 
been  appointed  to  take  charge  of  such  work  in  the  sur- 
rounding communities. 


1 82     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

Many  of  the  sailors  took  the  opportunity  while  in  the 
Hostess  Houses  to  write  home.  The  stationery  used 
averaged  close  to  1500  sheets  per  day. 

The  nurseries  in  the  Hostess  Houses,  which  were  very 
attractively  and  practically  furnished,  were  used  to  their 
capacity.  They  were  often  the  meeting  places  of  a 
young  mother  and  her  sailor  husband,  who  there  saw, 
for  the  first  time,  his  little  son  or  daughter. 

The  Hostess  Houses  became  the  scene  for  many  wed- 
dings, some  of  which  were  rather  elaborate  affairs,  with 
many  flowers,  music  and  even  a  wedding  breakfast. 
One  of  the  weddings  was  most  unexpected,  as  it  took 
place  in  one  corner  of  the  rest  room  without  any  fore- 
warning. The  father  of  the  bride  was  the  minister, 
and  two  of  the  hostesses  served  as  the  necessary  wit- 
nesses. 

A  typical  Sunday  morning  scene  in  one  of  the  Hostess 
Houses  might  be  summed  up  as  follows — a  sailor  stand- 
ing before  a  big  fireplace  popping  corn,  while  many 
others  were  writing  letters  or  reading,  and  at  the  same 
time  being  amused  by  a  little  three-year-old  girl  who  was 
visiting  at  the  House  that  day.  Throughout  the  huge 
living  room  and  sun  porch  were  scattered  families, 
many  of  whom  had  come  long  distances  to  spend  the 
day  with  their  "boy."  And  there,  also,  were  a  couple  of 
families  waiting  for  the  hour  or  so  during  which  they 
could  visit  the  hospital. 

During  the  evenings,  when  all  the  civilian  visitors  had 
left  the  Station,  the  Hostess  Houses  belonged  just  to 
the  sailors.  Then  a  group  of  them,  among  whom  might 
be  found  a  number  of  nurses  who  had  left  the  Hospital 
for  a  short  period  of  recreation,  could  be  found  around 
the  piano,  playing  and  singing. 


Secretaries  of  the  American  Red  Cross  at  Great  Lakes 

Interior  of  the  Jolly  Tar  Club 
The  Reading  Room  at  Red  Cross  House 


THE  WELFARE  ORGANIZATIONS         183 

The  Hostess  Houses  were  not  places  where  formal 
entertainment  was  provided  for  the  men,  since  other 
organizations  on  the  Station  were  ably  organized ,  for 
such  work.  The  Hostess  Houses  were  especially  meant 
to  provide  all  the  home  comforts  and  to  be,  in  the  truest 
sense,  just  a  "bit  of  home  on  the  Station."  However, 
from  time  to  time,  special  invitations  were  extended  to 
the  Naval  nurses  for  informal  social  affairs  and  an  ef- 
fort was  made  to  make  that  splendid  group  of  woman 
workers  feel  perfectly  at  home  in  the  Hostess  Houses. 

The  Hostess  Houses  were  also  used  by  many  parents 
and  relatives  summoned  to  Great  Lakes  on  account  of 
the  serious  illness  of  their  men.  They  used  the  Hostess 
Houses  as  home,  sometimes  for  many  days  or  weeks, 
where  help,  comfort  and  sympathy  were  given  them. 
One  day  during  a  cold,  early  spring,  a  poor  mother, 
summoned  from  her  farm  in  Northern  Minnesota  on 
account  of  the  dangerous  illness  of  her  son,  arrived  at 
the  hospital  in  a  calico  dress  and  a  gray  sweater.  The 
medical  staff  of  the  hospital  sent  her  to  the  Hostiess 
House  to  be  cared  for.  For  the  week  or  ten  days  trrat 
it  was  necessary  for  her  to  be  near  her  son  until  the 
danger  point  was  passed  the  Hostess  House  provided 
her  meals  and  every  other  home  comfort  during  the 
time  she  could  not  be  at  the  hospital.  A  comfortable 
room  was  found  for  her  in  a  nearby  community.  This 
was  only  one  of  hundreds  of  instances. 

During  the  influenza  epidemic  in  the  early  autumn  of 
1918  the  Hostess  Houses  did  tremendous  work  in  mak- 
ing conditions  more  comfortable  for  the  women  who 
were  called  to  Great  Lakes  by  the  dangerous  illness  of 
their  sons  and  husbands.  Many  bereaved  ones  were 
taken  care  of.  The  following  was  a  typical  instance: 


184 

Early  one  morning  a  telephone  message  came  from  In- 
coming Detention  asking  that  a  Hostess  House  secre- 
tary come  for  a  mother  who  had  just  arrived  from  Ne- 
braska to  find  that  her  son  had  died  during  the  night. 
She  was  taken  to  the  Hostess  House  after  all  arrange- 
ments had  been  made  for  shipping  the  body  back  home. 
Then,  while  she  was  made  comfortable  in  the  rest  room, 
information  was  secured  as  to  her  train  connections, 
and  later  in  the  day  she  was  taken  to  the  hospital  by  the 
Hostess  to  see  her  boy  before  he  was  shipped  home,  and, 
finally,  she  was  safely  put  on  her  train  in  Chicago. 

The  enlarging  of  the  Hostess  House  on  the  Main  Sta- 
tion, designed  to  more  than  double  its  capacity,  was  fin- 
ished just  in  time  to  be  used  to  great  advantage  during 
the  influenza  epidemic.  The  number  of  relatives  and 
friends  of  stricken  sailors  who  had  to  be  cared  for  on 
the  Station  both  day  and  night  was  so  great  that  the  Red 
Cross  Home  was  inadequate  alone  to  meet  it.  There- 
fore, the  two  Hostess  Houses  were  utilized  to  care  for 
at  least  half  the  immediate  relatives.  This  meant  that, 
when  the  epidemic  was  at  its  worst,  nearly  one  hundred 
persons  a  night  were  accommodated  by  the  Hostess 
Houses.  Provisions  were  made  whereby  at  any  mo- 
ment, day  or  night,  relatives  could  be  rushed  to  the 
Hospital  in  automobiles.  In  addition  to  twelve  cots  and 
bedding  for  the  same,  provided  by  the  War  Camp  Com- 
munity Service  through  Mr.  Charles  Moore,  most  of  the 
cots  and  bedding  needed  were  loaned  by  the  Station. 
In  addition  to  the  service  rendered  in  the  two  Hostess 
Houses,  the  Y.  W.  C.  A.  forces  were  asked  to  take 
charge  of  similar  work  in  Incoming  Detention,  and  did 
the  work  well  and  effectively. 

Not  only  did  the  forces  of  the  Hostess  Houses  pro- 


THE  WELFARE  ORGANIZATIONS         185 

vide  every  comfort  possible  for  the  relatives  of  the  sick 
men,  but  they  were  able  to  do  much  for  the  sailors  on  the 
Station,  particularly  as  all  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  buildings 
had  been  turned  into  sick  bays.  All  the  men  on  the 
Station  were  in  quarantine  during  the  influenza  epi- 
demic, and  the  Hostess  Houses  were  the  only  places 
where  the  men  detained  on  the  Station  could  gather  out- 
side their  barracks.  The  Hostess  Houses  were  there- 
fore thronged,  and  no  attempt  was  spared  to  make  them 
at  "home"  in  every  sense  of  the  word. 

During  the  epidemic  period  the  Hostess  Houses  dis- 
tributed to  the  sick  bays  throughout  the  Station  from 
thirty  to  forty  gallons  of  egg-nog  per  day,  besides  many 
cases  of  fruits,  and  especially  tempting  meals  asked  for 
by  the  doctors  for  particular  patients. 

In  appreciation  of  this  work  Lieutenant  Commander 
Grimes,  Acting  Commandant,  wrote  the  following  letter 
to  Miss  Frances  Greenough,  Directing  Hostess  at  Great 
Lakes : 

My  dear  Miss  Greenough: 

I  desire  to  tender  to  you  an  expression  of  our  pro- 
found appreciation  of  the  splendid  service  rendered  by 
you  and  your  associates  at  the  Y.  W.  C.  A.  Hostess 
Houses  during  the  period  of  the  recent  epidemic  of  in- 
fluenza. You  cannot  realize  how  invaluable  the  coop- 
eration extended  in  this  way  developed  as  a  result  of 
the  epidemic.  I  was  particularly  impressed  with  the 
manner  in  which  you  and  your  fellow  workers,  and 
the  organization  generally,  anticipated  and  met  with 
promptitude  the  most  urgent  necessities  of  the  patients 
and  their  relatives  during  this  trying  period.  We  shall 
always  feel  under  a  debt  of  gratitude  for  the  many 
kindly  services  performed  at  that  time,  and  I  shall  have 
to  now  content  myself  with  offering  you  a  simple  ex- 
pression of  our  sincere  thanks. 


1 86     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 
Captain  Moffett  wrote: 

My  dear  Miss  Greenough: 

I  wish  to  express  to  you  and  to  the  ladies  in  charge 
of  the  two  Hostess  Houses  my  appreciation  and  heart- 
felt thanks  for  the  devoted  and  efficient  service  which 
your  organization  rendered  during  the  recent  influenza 
epidemic.  You  may  be  quite  sure  that  the  officers  and 
enlisted  men  of  Great  Lakes  will  always  gratefully  re- 
member what  you  have  done,  not  only  in  taking  care  of 
the  sick  and  convalescent,  but  in  helping  to  lighten  the 
suffering  of  the  parents  and  relatives  of  the  men  who 
were  desperately  ill.  The  untiring  work  of  the  ladies 
in  charge  of  the  Hostess  Houses  have  been  an  inspira- 
tion to  all  of  us,  for  which  I  can  never  really  adequately 
express  my  admiration. 

The  staff  of  women  who  directed  the  Hostess  Houses 
at  Great  Lakes  during  the  war  period  were:  Mrs. 
Lawrence  W.  Viles,  Chairman  of  the  Hostess  House 
Committee ;  and  Mrs.  Ralph  Poole,  Mrs.  Ezra  Warner, 
Jr.,  Mrs.  Chauncy  Blair,  Mrs.  Frank  Hibbard,  Mrs.  A. 
Watson  Armour,  Mrs.  Charles  Hutchinson  and  Mrs. 
Martin  Ryerson. 

The  Directing  Hostess  of  the  two  houses  at  Great 
Lakes  was  Miss  Frances  P.  Greenough.  Her  assist- 
ants were:  Mrs.  George  Magoun,  Miss  Mary  Ken- 
nedy, Miss  Miriam  Heermans,  Miss  Mable  Dunham, 
Mrs.  Carrie  Green,  Mrs.  Fred  Kitch,  Miss  Catherine 
Stewart  and  Mrs.  George  Carlson. 

THE    Y.    M.    C.    A. 

Of  all  the  Welfare  Organizations  which  operated  at 
Great  Lakes  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  had  by  far  the  largest  staff 
of  workers  and  the  largest  number  of  buildings.  It  was 
a  far  cry  from  the  Bible  classes,  the  night  schools  and 
the  gymnasiums  of  civil  life  to  war  activities,  but  the 


THE  WELFARE  ORGANIZATIONS         187 

Y.  M.  C.  A.  spanned  the  gap  at  Great  Lakes  and  found 
a  fertile  field  in  which  to  work. 

Nations  at  war  must,  in  the  rush  of  preparation,  over- 
look to  some  extent  the  small  things  that  go  to  make  for 
the  comfort  of  the  fighting  forces — comforts  without 
which  the  men  would  be  at  a  serious  loss.  Admittedly, 
one  of  the  prime  requisites  of  military  training  is  a 
high  morale.  There  is  no  way  in  which  this  can  be  ac- 
complished better  than  by  affording  the  men  under  arms 
the  little  comforts  that  they  find  missing  in  their  transi- 
tion from  civil  to  military  life. 

This  was  the  main  task  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  at  Great 
Lakes,  the  work  that  it  set  itself  to  accomplish.  The 
first  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  buildings  constructed  at 
Great  Lakes,  largely  by  the  labor  of  the  secretaries 
themselves,  was  the  first  Y.  M.  C.  A.  building  erected 
for  distinctly  wartime  work  in  any  of  the  camps  or  can- 
tonments in  the  United  States.  Additional  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
buildings  were  erected  as  Great  Lakes  expanded.  At 
the  time  the  armistice  was  signed  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  build- 
ings were  eighteen  in  number,  one  for  each  regimental 
unit. 

The  style  of  the  various  Y.  M.  C.  A.  buildings  varied 
according  to  the  nature  of  the  regimental  units  in  which 
they  were  located.  In  the  Detention  regiments,  for  in- 
stance, the  buildings  were  smaller  than  in  the  regular 
training  regiments,  because  in  the  latter  the  men  were 
allowed  to  gather  in  larger  groups. 

All  of  the  buildings,  however,  were  provided  with  a 
platform  or  stage  for  entertainments  and  lectures,  with 
equipment  for  moving  pictures  and  lantern  slides.  Pi- 
anos, victrolas  and  mechanical  organs  were  placed  in 
each  building  for  the  use  of  the  sailors  and  the  enter- 


1 88     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

tainers  who  came  to  amuse  them.  Games  of  many  sorts 
were  scattered  throughout  the  buildings,  and  the  amount 
of  equipment,  both  for  indoor  and  outdoor  groups,  was 
very  large. 

In  each  building  there  were  excellent  facilities  for 
reading  purposes.  During  1917,  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  secre- 
taries secured  and  distributed  practically  all  the  books 
and  magazines  used  in  the  various  camps.  Various 
agencies  in  Chicago  and  along  the  North  Shore  gath- 
ered the  books  and  magazines  and  sent  them  to  Great 
Lakes  for  distribution  by  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Among  these 
organizations,  special  credit  is  due  the  Collegiate  Period- 
ical League,  which  organized  the  gathering  of  material 
in  Chicago,  and  to  the  Illinois  Motor  Corps,  which  trans- 
ported this  material  from  Chicago  to  Great  Lakes.  Also 
various  clubs,  churches,  and  many  individuals  con- 
tributed their  bit.  Many  thousands  of  books  were 
placed  on  the  shelves  in  each  Y.  M.  C.  A.  building,  and 
in  nearly  all  the  barracks  in  Incoming  Detention.  These 
collections  of  books  were  rotated  from  one  building  to 
another  by  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  secretaries,  so  that  fresh 
reading  matter  was  constantly  at  hand. 

The  meeting  of  emergencies  was  one  of  the  features 
of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  work  at  Great  Lakes.  When  the  in- 
fluenza epidemic  struck  Great  Lakes,  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
buildings  were  turned  into  sick  bays,  and  the  Y.  M.  C. 
A.  secretaries  assisted  the  medical  authorities  day  and 
night.  Of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  secretaries,  Leslie  Selby, 
W.  D.  Brenneman,  H.  H.  Mahin  and  W.  B.  Been  died 
of  the  fever,  and  many  others  were  exhausted  by  con- 
tinuous service. 

The  Y.  M.  C.  A.  work  at  Great  Lakes  was  divided 
into  four  principal  divisions.  To  the  sailors  themselves 


THE  WELFARE  ORGANIZATIONS         189 

the  Social  Division  was  perhaps  the  most  popular.  The 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  provided  them,  first,  with  a  place  where  the 
hours  not  taken  up  by  drill  and  study  might  be  passed 
pleasantly.  At  all  times  men  were  to  be  found  at  the 
long  tables  reading  or  writing  letters  home. 

While  some  attention  was  given  to  athletics,  the  ac- 
tivities of  the  Navy  in  this  branch  of  entertainment  and 
development  reduced  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  work  to  a  great 
extent. 

An  important  department  of  the  "Y"  activity  was  the 
work  of  the  educational  division.  Classes  in  mathe- 
matics, English,  French,  geography  and  spelling  were 
conducted.  Every  week  members  of  the  faculties  of 
nearby  colleges  and  universities  gave  lectures  on  sub- 
jects closely  related  to  Navy  life.  Every  evening  groups 
of  young  sailors  could  be  found  in  secluded  corners, 
deeply  engrossed  in  study,  with  an  experienced  instructor 
giving  individual  attention  to  each. 

The  Religious  Department  worked  intensively  among 
the  men,  and  thus  upheld  this  side  of  the  triangle.  Re- 
ligious meetings  were  held  during  the  week  in  all  of 
the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  buildings,  and  even  in  the  barracks 
when  the  men  desired  them.  Class  leaders  who  had 
proved  particularly  strong  were  brought  in  from  Chi- 
cago and  the  towns  along  the  North  Shore.  Each  of 
these  leaders  had  to  volunteer  for  four  months'  service, 
and  had  to  prove  his  ability  in  keeping  the  men  inter- 
ested in  the  Bible  Class  work.  Not  infrequently,  a  class 
leader  would  follow  a  company  of  men  from  the  first 
Sunday  in  Incoming  Detention  until  its  members  were 
sent  away  to  sea. 

Under  the  head  of  the  business  department  came  the 
work  of  keeping  the  buildings  well-supplied  with  the 


i9o     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

necessary  equipment  to  carry  on  the  work,  and  also  the 
operation  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  canteens.  These  canteens 
supplied  the  wants  which  could  not  be  obtained  at  other 
canteens  and  Ships'  Stores  at  Great  Lakes.  These 
wants,  however,  were  very  few,  such  as  postage  stamps, 
money  orders,  money  belts  and  camera  supplies.  A  sort 
of  banking  business  was  also  carried  on,  the  men  leaving 
surplus  money  with  the  secretaries  and  withdrawing  it 
as  they  pleased.  The  men  were  constantly  urged  to 
save  a  part  of  their  money. 

From  June  I,  1917,  to  May  31,  1918,  2822  Bibte  Class 
sessions  were  held,  with  an  attendance  of  88,232  men; 
the  number  of  religious  meetings  was  1092,  with  an  at- 
tendance of  524,169  men;  more  than  20,000  Scriptures 
were  distributed ;  the  personal  Christian  interviews  num- 
bered 8520;  and  the  personal  decisions  for  Christ  were 
1663. 

During  this  same  period  280  educational  lectures  were 
delivered,  attended  by  37,856  men;  the  educational 
classes  had  an  attendance  of  4082  men ;  and  the  number 
of  books  circulated  was  166,503.  The  various  enter- 
tainments numbered  596,  with  an  attendance  of  209,434, 
and  311  motion  pictures  were  shown,  with  an  attendance 
of  203,130  men.  The  money  orders  sold  totaled  $149,^ 
ooo.  The  number  of  letters  written  to  home  folks  on 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  stationery  was  2,464,218. 

Mr.  M.  H.  Bickham  was  General  Secretary  of  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  at  Great  Lakes.  His  headquarters  staff 
consisted  of  W.  R.  Bimson,  Executive  Secretary ;  Bert- 
W.  Woltze,  Personal  Secretary ;  J.  L.  Lobingier,  Educa- 
tional Secretary ;  Frank  Torell,  Religious  Secretary ;  and 
R.  H.  Risdon,  Entertainment  Secretary. 


THE  WELFARE  ORGANIZATIONS         191 

THE   KNIGHTS   OF   COLUMBUS 

The  work  of  the  Knights  of  Columbus  at  Great  Lakes 
began  in  August,  1917,  with  the  arrival  on  the  Station 
of  Father  William  A.  Murphy,  appointed  as  Catholic 
chaplain  of  the  post  by  Archbishop  George  William 
Mundelain,  of  Chicago.  At  the  same  time  Thomas  F. 
O'Connell  became  General  Secretary  of  the  K.  of  C.  at 
Great  Lakes. 

The  work  was  new  to  both  these  men  and  there  was 
no  equipment,  the  Knights  of  Columbus  at  that  time 
having  just  raised  their  first  $1,000,000  for  war  work. 
Within  a  short  time,  however,  the  first  K.  of  C.  building 
was  erected  in  the  Fourth  Regiment  in  Camp  Perry 'and 
from  then  on  there  was  reasonably  clear  sailing. 

At  the  time  the  armistice  was  signed  there  were  seven 
K.  of  C.  buildings  at  Great  Lakes,  located  in  Camps 
Perry,  Farragut,  Decatur,  Barry  and  Luce.  All  of 
these  buildings  were  equipped  with  victrolas,  with  an 
abundance  of  records;  pianolas,  with  plenty  of  sheet 
music;  moving  picture  machines;  and  thousands  of 
books  and  current  magazines.  Several  hundred  thou- 
sand letters  were  written  home  on  K.  of  C.  stationery. 
The  K.  of  C.  buildings  and  equipment  at  Great  Lakes 
cost  more  than  $100,000. 

Each  of  the  K.  of  C.  buildings,  aside  from  the  con- 
venience for  Sunday  service,  was  fitted  with  a  small 
chapel.  The  small  chapel  in  the  Camp  Perry  K.  of  C. 
building,  which  was  used  as  headquarters,  was  furnished 
with  a  white  and  gold  altar,  golden-oak  pews,  green  vel- 
vet Brussels  carpet,  four  solid  brass  candlesticks  and  a 
solid  crucifix,  and  statues  of  our  Lady  of  the  Lakes. 
This  chapel  was  dedicated  to  Our  Lady  of  the  Lakes  in 


1 92     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

memory  of  Mary  Murphy,  mother  of  the  beloved  Chap- 
lain. 

Among  the  big  affairs,  from  a  religious  point  of  view, 
were  the  out-of-door  military  masses  said  during  the 
summer  in  the  big  Farragut  Ravine  amphitheatre  and 
in  the  open  field.  Thousands  of  sailors  attended  these 
services,  and  good  speakers  addressed  them  on  their 
duty  to  God,  country,  home  and  their  fellow  men. 
Catholic  services  were  held  at  nine  different  localities 
on  Sundays,  giving  every  boy  an  opportunity  to  carry 
out  his  religious  obligations. 

Among  the  organizations,  outside  the  ranks  of  the 
Knights  of  Columbus,  which  contributed  greatly  to  the 
happiness  of  the  sailors  were:  The  Ladies'  Catholic 
Benevolent  Association ;  the  Catholic  Women's  League ; 
the  North  Shore  Women's  Catholic  League ;  the  Evans- 
ton  Catholic  Women's  League:  the  Associates  of  the 
West  End  Catholic  Women's  League ;  the  Rogers  Park 
Catholic  Women's  Club:  and  the  Catholic  Women  of 
Waukegan  and  the  North  Shore  towns.  The  St. 
Thomas  Aquinas  Club  of  Chicago  furnished  hundreds 
of  sweaters,  helmets,  socks  and  mufflers  for  personal 
distribution  to  the  boys. 

During  the  influenza  epidemic,  both  the  chaplains 
and  the  secretaries  found  an  almost  overwhelming 
amount  of  work  to  do.  They  carried  comfort  and  en- 
tertainment to  the  sailors  in  the  hospital  and  sick  bays, 
and  sent  word  of  their  condition  to  parents  and  friends. 
The  convalescing  sailors  were  given  oranges  and  other 
fruit,  letters  were  written  for  them,  and  every  wish 
they  expressed  was  carried  out  when  possible.  The  men 
at  work  knew  no  hours,  as  was  the  case  throughout  the 
entire  Station,  but  stayed  on  the  job  as  long  as  there 


THE  WELFARE  ORGANIZATIONS         193 

was  work  to  do,  or  as  long  as  human  nature  could  en- 
dure. 

The  following  letter  was  addressed  to  General  Sec- 
retary O'Connell  by  Captain  Moffett : 

I  wish  to  express  my  appreciation  of  the  valuable 
services  you  and  your  staff  have  rendered  to  this  Sta- 
tion. I  shall  always  feel  a  great  deal  of  gratitude 
to  the  Knights  of  Columbus  and  their  representa- 
tives for  the  many  fine  things  they  have  done  for 
the  men  at  Great  Lakes.  I  am  sure  I  voice  the  opinion 
of  all  the  officers  and  men  when  I  say  the  devotion  to 
duty  displayed  by  all  the  civilian  secretaries  of  the  va- 
rious war  activities  represented  here  has  been  a  constant 
source  of  satisfaction  and  inspiration  to  us  all. 

Among  the  Catholic  chaplains  who  worked  at  Great 
Lakes  were:  Father  William  A.  Murphy,  Father 
Thomas  A.  Canty,  Father  B.  J.  Sheil,  Father  Conroy  of 
the  Jesuit  Order,  Father  I.  Parius,  Father  B.  McGuire, 
Father  Thomas  E.  Burke,  Father  A.  W.  West,  and  Dr. 
J.  P.  Munday,  L.  L.  D. 

The  Knights  of  Columbus  secretaries  were :  Thos. 
F.  O'Connell,  Frank  P.  Bowler,  Raymond  F.  Hartman, 
Edward  A.  Chanel,  John  F.  Crossin,  Walter  O.  Rourke, 
William  Grogan  Roeder,  Leo  N.  Thimmisch,  Edmund 
Ruhnke,  Charles  E.  May,  Harold  Leaf,  William  J. 
Leiser,  Christ  E.  Murphy,  Robert  E.  Neilan,  Lee  Spring- 
meier,  Arthur  W.  Juergens,  Thos.  McMannimen,  James 
Callahan,  Joe  Altenback,  George  Mahoney  and  Ernest 
Beaulieu. 

THE   JEWISH    WELFARE   BOARD 

To  obtain  an  adequate  conception  of  the  functions  of 
the  Jewish  Welfare  Board  at  Great  Lakes,  it  is  neces- 


i94     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

sary  to  know  something  of  the  conditions  existing  be- 
fore its  origin.  When  the  war  broke  out,  the  country 
found  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  long  established  and  ready  for 
war  work.  The  K.  of  C.  was  also  in  a  position  to  step 
in  and  take  up  work  among  the  boys  in  khaki  and  blue. 
tThe  Jewish  people,  however,  had  not  one  organization 
fitted  to  represent  Jewry  in  the  training  camps.  It  be- 
came necessary,  therefore,  to  form  a  body  of  men  who, 
through  experience  and  reputation,  were  able  to  meet 
the  specific  needs  of  the  Jewish  men  in  the  service.  The 
fifteen  leading  Jewish  organizations  of  America,  repre- 
senting every  line  of  Jewish  thought,  were  banded  to- 
gether to  form  the  Jewish  Welfare  Board.  In  a  very 
short  time  it  was  recognized  by  the  Army  and  Navy 
heads  on  the  same  basis  as  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  and  the  K.  of 
C.,  and  then  began  an  unprecedented  growth. 

The  Jewish  Welfare  Board  activities  at  Great  Lakes 
were  conducted  along  lines  adopted  by  the  Central  Of- 
fice in  New  York  and  were,  in  general,  typical  of  what 
was  being  done  throughout  the  country.  The  program 
of  aid  was  divided  into  four  lines  of  action — religious, 
personal  service,  educational,  and  social  and  recrea- 
tional. 

Recognition  that  the  Jewish  sailors  represented  vari- 
ous shades  of  belief  was  taken  into  consideration  in  the 
religious  work,  and  the  services  were  so  arranged  that 
all  could  participate  in  full  conviction.  Daily  service 
for  mourners  were  held  whenever  called  for.  Sabbath 
service  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Jewish  Chaplain  at 
Great  Lakes.  Special  services  were  held  on  the  festi- 
vals. In  September,  1918,  during  the  New  Year's  and 
the  Day  of  Atonement,  some  nine  hundred  Jewish  sail- 


THE  WELFARE  ORGANIZATIONS         195 

ors  in  Incoming  Detention,  who  could  not  be  granted 
furloughs,  were  served  with  three  meals  under  the  aus- 
pices of  the  Jewish  Welfare  Board.  The  forces  serving 
these  meals  were  made  up  of  the  women  in  the  neighbor- 
ing towns,  who  acted  as  hostesses  for  the  occasion. 
During  the  Feast  of  Lights,  several  affairs,  which  were 
highly  successful  in  point  of  attendance  and  general 
spirit  of  happiness,  were  held  in  the  camps. 

Personal  service  was  the  outstanding  feature  of  the 
work  of  the  Jewish  Welfare  Board.  The  transition 
from  civil  to  military  life  brought  in  its  wake  many 
problems  for  adjustment,  all  of  which  had  to  be  ade- 
quately met,  if  the  morale  of  the  sailor  was  not  to  be 
impaired.  In  this  service,  the  family  as  well  as  the  in- 
dividual was  given  consideration.  In  a  word,  the  field 
workers  of  the  Jewish  Welfare  Board  endeavored  to 
enter  into  the  inner  life  of  the  man,  discover  his  particu- 
lar need  and  answer  it.  No  one,  Jew  or  Gentile,  was 
ever  turned  away;  no  case  was  too  trivial  or  too  big  to 
handle. 

Due  to  a  delay  in  building,  the  Jewish  Welfare  Board 
at  Great  Lakes  was  handicapped  to  a  considerable  ex- 
tent in  carrying  out  educational  activities.  However, 
through  the  splendid  cooperation  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  and 
other  organizations,  rabbis  and  laymen  were  given  the 
opportunity  to  address  the  boys  from  time  to  time  on 
various  subjects  of  interest  to  all.  Social  and  recrea- 
tional activities,  in  common  with  the  work  of  the  Y.  M. 
G.  A.  and  the  K.  of  C.,  were  greatly  stressed.  The 
Lutheran  Brotherhood  gave  over  its  equipment  every 
Thursday  night  to  the  Jewish  Welfare  Board. 

A  large  Jewish  Welfare  Board  building  was  com- 


196     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

pleted  at  Great  Lakes  at  about  the  time  the  armistice 
was  signed.  The  field  secretary  of  the  Jewish  Welfare 
Board  at  Great  Lakes  was  Mr.  Jacob  Turner. 

THE  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE  WAR  RELIEF  AND  CAMP 
WELFARE    COMMITTEE 

This  organization  placed  a  camp  worker  at  Great 
Lakes  to  render  special  and  individual  service  to  the 
officers  and  enlisted  men  who  were  interested,  as  mem- 
bers or  otherwise,  in  the  Christian  Science  movement. 

The  twofold  object  of  the  service  was  to  supply  to  the 
men  such  spiritual  aid  as  could  only  be  given  by  one 
of  their  faith,  and  to  cooperate  with  other  workers  in 
looking  after  their  general  welfare. 

The  Christian  Science  camp  welfare  automobile  car- 
ried officers  and  enlisted  men  with  their  baggage  to  dis- 
tant parts  of  the  camp;  met  relatives  at  the  trains  and 
put  them  in  touch  with  their  men,  and  served  otherwise 
in  many  emergencies.  The  Camp  Welfare  Worker 
made  purchases  in  nearby  towns  for  men  in  Incoming 
Detention;  maintained  correspondence  with  relatives 
whenever  necessary,  and  rendered  many  other  personal 
attentions  which  in  the  aggregate  constituted  a  service 
approved  and  appreciated  by  both  officers  and  men  at  the 
Station. 

Under  the  heading  of  Maintenance  of  Morale  might 
be  classed  the  work  accomplished  in  helping  the  men  to 
adjust  themselves  to  the  newly  found  conditions  of  mil- 
itary life.  Many  boys,  leaving  home  for  the  first  time, 
experienced  a  sense  of  loneliness  and  homesickness — a 
condition  favorable  to  discontent.  A  friendly  call  from 
the  camp  worker,  with  a  word  of  encouragement  and  a 
little  talk  on  the  importance  of  the  service  in  which  he 


THE  WELFARE  ORGANIZATIONS         197 

had  enlisted,  left  many  a  boy  with  a  larger  vision  and  a 
keener  desire  to  become  an  efficient  fighting  unit.  The 
value  of  a  man  imbued  with  this  idea  had  a  far-reach- 
ing influence  among  his  shipmates,  as  was  well  appre- 
ciated by  the  officers  in  command. 

The  Christian  Science  War  Relief  and  Camp  Wel- 
fare Committee  wishes  to  express  its  appreciation  of 
the  cooperation  given  by  all  departments  at  Great  Lakes. 
By  courtesy  of  the  Medical  Staff  at  the  U.  S.  Naval  Hos- 
pital permission  was  obtained  to  visit  patients  at  all 
times. 

Especial  credit  was  due  to  the  Senior  Chaplain,  Cap- 
tain Frank  Thompson,  U.  S.  N.,  whose  long  experience 
in  the  Navy  and  kindly  cooperation  made  possible  the 
broad  field  of  our  achievement. 

THE   LUTHERAN    BROTHERHOOD 

From  the  very  beginning  of  the  Lutheran  Brother- 
hood work  at  Great  Lakes  it  was  felt  that  it  would  be 
necessary  to  erect  a  suitable  building  as  headquarters. 
Finally,  through  the  kind  offices  of  Captain  Moffett, 
permission  to  erect  such  a  building  was  obtained.  This 
building  was  completed  in  the  summer  of  1918,  and  be- 
came very  popular.  Its  auditorium  could  seat  1200 
men.  The  social  room  was  provided  with  books,  current 
magazines,  games  of  various  kinds  and  many  writing 
tables.  On  Monday  and  Friday  nights  picture  shows 
were  given,  and  every  Tuesday  night  there  was  a  con- 
cert, in  which  prominent  musicians  from  Chicago  per- 
formed. Wednesday  nights  were  devoted  to  mid-week 
prayer  service  with  a  brief  address.  The  Jewish  Wel- 
fare Board  was  allowed  to  use  the  building  on  various 
occasions  for  dramatic  and  musical  entertainments. 


198     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

Saturday  nights  were  given  over  to  the  Roman  Catholic 
sailors,  who  came  to  their  priests  in  the  confessional. 

The  Lutheran  pastors  detailed  to  duty  at  Great  Lakes 
were  four  in  number — the  Reverend  Ernest  Lack,  H. 
H.  Kumnick,  Carl  Weswig,  and  John  A.  St.  Clair,  all 
ordained  Lutheran  clergymen. 

In  all  the  camps  the  Lutheran  services  were  well  at- 
tended, attesting  to  the  necessity  of  such  services.  The 
religious  registration  cards  filled  out  by  the  young  sail- 
ors entering  Incoming  Detention  showed  that  7250  Lu- 
theran boys  had  enlisted.  Of  these,  about  2400  par- 
took of  communion. 

THE    SENIOR    CHAPLAIN,    U.    S.    N. 

All  of  the  religious  work  at  Great  Lakes,  of  whatever 
denomination,  came  under  the  direct  supervision  of 
Captain  Frank  Thompson,  Corps  of  Chaplains,  U.  S.  N. 
This  fine  chaplain,  the  dean  of  the  U.  S.  N.  Corps  of 
Chaplains,  turned  a  "listening  ear"  to  all  the  other  chap- 
lains, advising  them  of  the  ways  of  the  Navy  and  the 
manner  in  which  they  could  most  effectively  "carry  on." 

To  the  great  relief  of  Chaplain  Thompson,  the  Rev- 
erend Charles  W.  Moore,  a  Naval  Militia  Chaplain  from 
Missouri,  reported  for  duty  early  in  May,  1917.  At 
about  the  same  time  a  Catholic  clergyman  from  Chi- 
cago, recommended  by  the  Archbishop  of  that  City,  was, 
by  authority  of  the  Commandant,  given  charge  of  the 
men  of  Catholic  faith,  under  the  Senior  Chaplain's  di- 
rection. Representatives  of  other  denominations,  with 
accredited  letters  from  the  churches  which  they  repre- 
sented, reported  from  time  to  time,  and  were  allowed  by 
the  Commandant  to  assist  the  Senior  Chaplain  in  his 
work. 


THE  WELFARE  ORGANIZATIONS         199 

At  the  time  the  armistice  was  signed  the  religious 
forces  at  Great  Lakes  consisted  of  six  commissioned 
Navy  chaplains  and  twenty-one  civilian  pastors.  The 
spirit  of  perfect  harmony  and  accord  which  dominated 
the  religious  work  at  Great  Lakes,  on  the  part  of  the 
chaplains,  civilian  assistants  and  Y.  M.  C.  A.  workers, 
was  most  marked,  and  was  wholly  owing  to  the  true 
Christian  spirit  and  hearty  cooperation  of  all  con- 
cerned. 


CHAPTER  XII 

ENTERTAINING   THE   "GOBS" 

YOUTH  makes  a  great  appeal,  wherever  it  is  met. 
Couple  this  with  the  fact  that  Great  Lakes — 
America's  greatest  City  of  Youth — is  located  at 
the  very  doors  of  the  e:reat  Mid-Western  metropolis, 
and  you  have  the  reason  whv  Chicago  and  the  other 
Lake  Shore  communities,  including  Milwaukee,  fairly 
overstepped  themselves  in  providing  entertainment  for 
the  thousands  upon  thousands  of  young:  sailors. 

Because  of  its  proximity  to  Great  Lakes  it  came  about 
that  Chicago,  located  a  thousand  miles  from  salt  water, 
saw  more  sailors  than  soldiers,  and.  therefore,  took  more 
sailors  into  its  homes  and  clubs.  Also  the  fact  that  the 
greater  number  of  these  sailors  were  under  twenty-one 
years  of  age — enthusiastic  boys  who  joined  the  Navy 
because  they  were  too  young  for  the  Army — made  a  di- 
rect, simple  appeal  to  every  home. 

To  set  45,000  young  bluejackets  down  at  the  doors  of 
a  city  and  say:  "Here  they  are,  provide  healthful  en- 
tertainment for  them  while  they  are  on  'shore  leave,' ' 
was  no  small  order.  Yet  not  one  sailor  at  Great  Lakes 
got  "All  dressed  up  and  no  place  to  go." 

On  Thanksgiving  Day,  1917,  for  instance,  thousands 
of  bluejackets  were  guests  of  Chicago  and  its  suburbs. 
The  invitations  received  were  five  times  as  many  as  could 
be  filled.  Chicago  and  the  other  communities  surround- 
ing it  proved  to  be  wonderful  hostesses,  in  their  clubs, 

200 


ENTERTAINING  THE  "GOBS"  201 

hotels  and  private  homes.  Rothschild  and  Company 
served  a  dinner  to  five  hundred  sailors ;  the  Chicago  Ath- 
letic Club  entertained  two  hundred;  the  Illinois  Athletic 
Club,  one  hundred  and  fifty;  the  Union  League  Club, 
one  hundred;  the  South  Shore  Country  Club,  one  hun- 
dred; the  Casino  Club,  seventy-five;  the  Congress  Club, 
fifty;  the  Edgewater  Beach  Hotel,  two  hundred >(>the 
Blackstone  Hotel,  one  hundred;  the  Palmer  House,  fifty,; 
and  several  thousand  private  homes  entertained  any- 
where from  one  to  five  bluejackets. 

Early  in  the  morning  on  that  day,  the  young  sailors 
detailed  to  the  different  clubs,  hotels  and  private  homes 
drew  up  in  company  or  squad  formation  in  the  Main 
Drill  Hall  and  passed  in  review  before  Captain  Moffett. 
Then  they  boarded  trains  for  Chicago,  and  were  met  at 
the  different  stations  by  representatives  of  their  host- 
esses. After  dinner,  they  were  entertained  at  dances 
or  at  theatres. 

How  Chicago  felt  about  it  all  may  be  taken  from  such 
expressions  as  the  following,  clipped  from  the  Chicago 
newspapers:  "Jackies  make  City  Thankful,  and  Vice 
Versa" — "Chicagoans  and  Sailors  make  Day  Memor- 
able by  Celebration" — "Jackies  find  way  into  Hearts  and 
Homes  of  City" — "Thanksgiving  Events  form  new 
Bond  of  Sympathy." 

All  of  which  was  only  a  phase  of  what  the  cities  anjd 
communities  in  the  vicinity  of  Great  Lakes  did  for  the 
young  sailors.  The  North  Shore  suburbs  of  Chicago 
were  as  thick  with  bluejackets  as  they  were  with  citizens. 

There  was  probably  no  other  camp  in  the  United  States 
that  received  more  war-camp  hospitality  than  Great 
Lakes.  Every  boy  who  went  through  Great  Lakes  felt 
its  impress. 


202     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

Almost  before  it  was  realized  that  war  was  on,  thou- 
sands of  youths  just  out  of  high  school  had  enrolled 
themselves  in  the  Navy.  They  had  sent  their  civilian 
clothes  home,  donned  the  blue  of  the  Navy,  taken  the 
three  "shots"  in  the  arm,  and  begun  their  training. 

For  once,  Chicago  and  the  other  communities  along 
the  North  Shore  were  almost  caught  napping — so  quickly 
had  the  youth  of  the  Middle  West  rushed  to  Great 
Lakes.  The  boys  who  enlisted  during  the  first  few  days 
of  that  relentlessly  soaked  and  shivering  spring  of  1917 
went  to  sea  without  testing  the  joy  of  the  cheery  glow 
of  a  sailors'  club,  or  the  happy  hours  at  some  Saturday 
night  dance,  where  scores  of  girls  helped  the  young  sail- 
ors forget  that  they  were  homesick.  Few  of  these 
earliest  recruits  had  a  chance  to  toast  their  toes  at  the 
fireside  of  Chicago's  hospitality,  or  to  encompass  a  home- 
cooked  dinner  at  a  home  where  some  other  boy's  mother 
did  the  best  she  could  to  take  the  place  of  an  absent 
mother. 

'  •'  During  every  week  end,  when  the  thousands  of  young 
sailors  were  granted  "shore  leave,"  the  big  city  by  the 
lake  rubbed  its  eyes  and  took  notice.  The  doors  of 
thousands  of  homes  in  Chicago  and  the  North  Shore 
communities  swung  open ;  hundreds  of  clubs  opened  wide 
their  doors,  and  many  war-camp  organizations  set  to 
work  to  provide  and  equip  new  gathering  centers. 

On  special  holidays,  such  as  Thanksgiving,  Christ- 
mas and  New  Year's,  more  invitations  were  received 
than  could  be  accommodated.  At  such  times,  after  thou- 
sands of  invitations  had  been  accepted  and  the  sailors 
apportioned  off,  as  many  as  15,000  requests  for  blue- 
jacket guests  had  to  be  turned  back  with  regrets. 

In  December,   1917,  the  War  Recreation  Board  of 


ENTERTAINING  THE  "GOBS"  203 

Illinois  was  organized,  in  compliance  with  the  request 
of  the  War  and  Navy  Department  Commissions  on 
Training  Camp  Activities.  This  board  first  undertook 
to  correlate  the  activities  of  the  various  organizations 
and  groups  of  individuals  engaged  in  providing  hos- 
pitality and  entertainment  for  the  enlisted  men.  To 
keep  the  men  advised  of  the  various  entertainments  of- 
fered, the  War  Recreation  Board  began  the  publication 
of  a  weekly  bulletin,  in  which  the  events  in  Chicago  and 
vicinity  were  listed.  About  20,000  copies  were  dis- 
tributed on  the  Station  each  week,  and  it  was  a  common 
sight  to  see  the  sailors  reading  and  checking  off  the  at- 
tractive items  among  the  scores  of  functions  listed. 

The  War  Recreation  Board  of  Illinois,  realizing  the 
need  of  a  club  house,  established  the  Central  Soldiers' 
and  Sailors'  Club  at  207  West  Washington  Street,  Chi- 
cago. This  club  house — a  four-story  building — was 
provided  with  every  convenience.  It  was  opened  in 
March,  1918,  and  its  success  was  assured  from  the  very 
beginning.  .  It  became  the  central  meeting  place  and 
headquarters  of  thousands  of  sailors  going  into  Chicago 
every  week. 

During  the  summer  months  of  1918  this  club  became 
so  crowded  that  it  was  necessary  to  establish  a  second. 
In  consequence,  the  Khaki  and  Blue  Club,  located  in 
Grant  Park,  on  Chicago's  lake  front,  was  begun  in  Au- 
gust by  the  Red  Cross.  This  spacious  and  splendidly 
equipped  club  house  was  opened  for  use  the  latter  part 
of  September,  1918.  The  average  number  of  men  using 
these  two  clubs  each  week  was  over  ten  thousand. 

A  third  club  house  was  established  in  Chicago  in  De- 
cember, 1918,  at  3033  South  Wabash  Avenue,  for  the 
special  use  of  colored  men  in  the  service. 


204     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

The  work  of  the  War  Recreation  Board  of  Illinois 
was  extended  to  cover  all  the  North  Shore  communities 
as  far  north  as  Waukegan,  a  city  of  20,000  people  four 
miles  north  of  Great  Lakes.  This  board  assisted  in  the 
establishment  of  clubs  in  Waukegan,  Lake  Bluff,  Lake 
Forest,  Highwood,  Highland  Park,  Glencoe,  Ravinia, 
Hubbard  Woods,  Kenilworth,  Wilmette,  Evanston  and 
elsewhere.  These  clubs  were  financed,  wholly  or  in 
part,  out  of  funds  provided  by  the  War  Recreation 
Board.  This  board  also  promoted  or  helped  to  finance 
various  forms  of  hospitality  within  a  hundred  or  more 
miles  of  Great  Lakes.  In  each  one  of  the  communities 
mentioned  a  representative  committee  was  appointed 
and  made  responsible  to  the  parent  board  for  the  organi- 
zation and  operation  of  its  camp  community  service  or- 
ganization. 

During  November,  1917,  the  total  attendance  at  the 
various  clubs  was  22,950.  During  August,  1918,  the 
total  attendance  was  207,824  and  during  January,  1919, 
two  months  after  the  signing  of  the  armistice,  the  at- 
tendance was  279,784. 

The  name  "War  Recreation  Board"  was  changed  in 
the  summer  of  1918  to  "War  Camp  Community  Serv- 
ice," in  compliance  with  a  request  of  the  War  Depart- 
ment Commission  on  Training  Camp  Activities,  thus 
establishing  a  uniform  name  for  this  work  throughout 
the  country. 

The  work  which  this  board  was  doing  grew  to  such 
an  extent  that  increased  funds  were  needed,  notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  much  of  the  assistance  furnished 
was  gratuitous.  In  February,  1918,  a  campaign  to 
raise  additional  funds  netted  $537,398.  Of  this  amount 
$241,138  was  used  locally.  In  November,  1918,  the 


ENTERTAINING  THE  "GOBS"  205 

War  Camp  Community  Service  was  one  of  seven  or- 
ganizations included  under  the  head  of  United  War 
Work  Activities,  and  the  people  of  Chicago  and  the 
North  Shore  responded  in  overwhelming  measure  in  the 
money-raising  campaign. 

The  recruits  who  reported  at  Great  Lakes  were  not 
allowed  liberty  for  twenty-one  days — the  period  spent 
in  Incoming  Detention.  But  during  that  time  they  were 
made  acquainted  with  the  good  things  which  were  com- 
ing to  them  when  their  first  period  of  Navy  Life  was 
ended.  For  those  twenty-one  days  they  looked  out  of 
barrack  windows,  or  through  the  iron-mesh  fencing  that 
surrounded  them,  at  the  train-loads  of  happy  sailors 
"shoving  off"  for  beach  parties,  swimming  parties,  au- 
tomobile rides,  home-cooked  dinners  and  the  like,  and 
each  day  they  studied  the  bulletin  published  by  the  W^ar 
Camp  Community  Service  to  learn  just  where  to  go 
when  they  received  their  first  "shore  leave." 

In  Chicago  the  Central  Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  Club  pro- 
vided up-to-date  conveniences,  such  as  shower  baths,  a 
barber  shop,  a  reading  and  writing  room,  billiards  and 
pool,  and  dancing.  Many  sailors  who  went  into  Chi- 
cago from  Great  Lakes  without  fully  knowing  what 
they  wished  to  do  with  their  "liberty"  were  given  in- 
vitations at  the  Central  Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  Club  for 
theatres,  dances  and  home  dinners. 

As  the  sailors  surged  through  the  Chicago  and  North- 
western Station  in  Chicago,  thousands  of  them  sought 
out  the  splendid  club  rooms  furnished  by  this  railroad  in 
its  terminal  building.  This  work,  although  not  under 
the  auspices  of  the  War  Work  Community  Service,  was 
of  similar  nature.  This  club  afforded  the  sailor  a  de- 
lightful place  to  spend  the  afternoon  or  evening,  as  it 


206     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

was  provided  with  reading  and  writing  rooms,  pool, 
billiards  and  other  games.  It  was  a  place  where,  if  he 
thought  his  whites  were  not  quite  presentable,  he  could 
scrub  and  dry  them,  and  take  a  hot  shower  while  they 
were  drying.  Then,  garbed  in  his  clean  outfit,  he  could 
apply  at  the  office  for  a  ticket  to  the  theatre,  a  dance  or 
a  home  dinner.  If  he  had  a  check  which  he  wanted 
cashed,  there  was  always  money  in  the  safe.  If  he  met 
with  accident  during  his  visit  in  Chicago,  he  could  get 
emergency  treatment  or  medical  attention  at  this  club, 
of  which  Lieutenant  H.  W.  Moore,  Medical  Corps,  U. 
S.  N.,  R.  F.,  was  detailed  as  supervising  officer. 

One  of  the  first  canteens  opened  in  Chicago  was  es- 
tablished by  the  Chicago  Woman's  Club.  Contrary  to 
precedent  the  Chicago  Public  Library  allowed  the  Chi- 
cago Woman's  Club  to  use  a  part  of  its  building  to  con- 
duct a  canteen  for  the  enlisted  men  on  Saturdays  and 
Sundays.  This  proved  a  very  popular  place  for  the 
sailors. 

The  Home  Folks'  Canteen,  at  the  Randolph  Street 
entrance  of  the  Chicago  City  Hall,  was  open  daily  from 
1 1  a.  m.  to  9  p.  m.  under  the  auspices  of  the  Council  of 
State  Societies  of  Chicago. 

The  American  Red  Cross  Canteen — the  Khaki  and 
Blue  Club — opened  its  doors  day  and  night  for  men 
traveling  under  orders.  The  women  working  in  this 
club  could  be  depended  upon,  day  or  night,  to  serve  hun- 
gry and  tired  enlisted  men  who  were  passing  through 
Chicago. 

The  home  hospitality  of  Chicago  was  ultimately 
placed  in  the  hands  of  a  hospitality  committee.  Through 
this  committee  the  private  homes  of  Chicago  opened 
their  doors  to  receive  the  soldiers  and  sailors.  These 


ENTERTAINING  THE  "GOBS"  207 

homes  started  out  to  entertain  the  sailors,  and,  according 
to  their  own  verdict,  ended  up  by  being  entertained  by 
the  sailors.  This  home  hospitality  took  as  many  differ- 
ent forms  as  the  initiative  and  personality  of  the  hosts 
and  the  recipients  engendered.  Sometimes,  it  simply 
meant  a  good  dinner,  leaving  the  sailor  to  go  where  he 
liked  afterwards.  With  others,  it  meant  the  inviting  in 
of  young  women  and  an  afternoon  or  evening  of  dancing 
or  games.  Sometimes  the  house  was  turned  over  to  the 
sailors  and  they  went  to  the  kitchen  with  the  girls  to  get 
up  a  Sunday  evening  supper.  This  seemed  to  please 
the  men  more  than  any  other  kind  of  hospitality. 

Another  kind  of  home  hospitality  grew  out  of  what 
were  called  "church  parties."  The  various  churches 
throughout  Chicago  and  the  North  Shore  opened  their 
doors  to  the  enlisted  men.  As  many  as  two  hundred 
sailors  were  often  invited  to  a  service.  Whether  the 
number  of  men  invited  to  a  church  was  ten  or  a  hundred, 
a  committee  of  that  church  arranged  for  them  to  go  to 
the  homes  for  dinner. 

The  clubs,  both  city  and  country,  made  a  remarkable 
record  for  hospitality.  Many  of  them  extended  all 
privileges  to  the  sailors,  and  on  special  occasions,  such 
as  Christmas,  Thanksgiving  and  like  holidays,  dinners 
and  special  dances  were  given.  Prominent  among  the 
Chicago  organizations  in  this  work  were:  the  Chicago 
Woman's  Club,  the  Chicago  Athletic  Association,  the 
Illinois  Athletic  Club,  the  Hamilton  Club,  the  Union 
League  Club,  the  Chicago  Club,  the  College  Club,  the 
City  Club,  the  Woman's  Athletic  Club,  the  University 
Club,  the  Standard  Club  and  the  Casino  Club. 

The  hotels  of  Chicago  entertained  the  sailors  on  many 
special  occasions,  and  every  day  found  the  sailors  at 


208     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

home  in  their  lobbies  and  writing  rooms.  The  news- 
papers of  Chicago  got  behind  every  movement  whose 
purpose  was  to  entertain  the  sailors,  helping  to  a  great 
extent  to  make  them  possible. 

The  theatres  and  theatrical  people  did  their  bit. 
Vaudeville  stars,  grand  opera  singers,  and  many  actors 
and  actresses  appearing  in  Chicago  gave  their  services 
freely,  not  only  by  taking  part  in  programs  in  the  City, 
but  also  by  coming  to  Great  Lakes  to  give  performances 
in  the  huge  drill  halls  and  in  the  open-air  theatres  lo- 
cated in  the  ravines.  Every  Sunday  afternoon  some 
one  of  the  Chicago  theatres  have  a  special  performance 
for  men  in  uniform  only.  One  of  the  greatest  treats 
was  made  possible  by  the  Chicago  Grand  Opera  Associa- 
tion. One  hundred  tickets  for  each  performance  of 
grand  opera,  running  through  a  season  of  ten  weeks, 
were  put  at  the  disposal  of  the  men  in  uniform.  On 
these  tickets  even  the  war  tax  was  taken  care  of.  In 
addition,  many  more  men  were  allowed  the  pleasure  of 
witnessing  Grand  Opera  by  simply  paying  the  war  tax. 

Among  the  war  service  organizations  and  regular 
clubs  in  Chicago  which  furnished  various  kinds  of  hos- 
pitality to  the  sailors,  were :  the  Chicago  Woman's  Club, 
the  Opera  Club,  the  Chicago  Woman's  Aid,  the  Woman's 
Athletic  Club,  the  Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  Club,  the  Khaki 
and  Blue  Club,  the  Red  Cross  Canteen  Service,  the  Chi- 
cago Political  Equality  League,  the  Chicago  College 
Club,  the  Chicago  Sinai  Temple  Sisterhood,  Jochanna 
Lodge,  the  Three  Arts  Club,  the  Catholic  Social  Center, 
the  Edgewater  Catholic  Woman's  Club,  the  Woman's 
Church  Federation,  the  Woodlawn  Woman's  Club,  the 
Arts  Club,  the  Sister  A  Sailor  League,  the  Chicago  His- 
torical Society,  the  Comforts  Forwarding  Committee, 


ENTERTAINING  THE  "GOBS"  209 

the  Swedish  Club,  the  Indiana  House,  the  Garfield 
Girls'  Navy  Recreation  Club,  the  Allied  Arts'  Unit,  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A.,  the  Y.  W.  C.  A.,  the  Jewish  Welfare  Board, 
the  Knights  of  Columbus,  the  Oak  Park  Woman's  Club, 
the  River  Forest  Woman's  Club,  'the  Daughters  of  the 
Republic,  the  Girls'  Friendly  Group,  the  Daughters  of 
the  British  Empire,  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Group, 
St.  Paul's  Parish,  the  North  End  Woman's  Club,  the 
West  End  Catholic  Woman's  Club,  the  Home  Folks 
Canteen,  the  Ravenswood  Woman's  Club,  the  Girls'  Pa- 
triotic League,  the  Renaissance  Club,  the  Woman 
of  Ida  Noyes'  Hall,  University  of  Chicago,  the 
Open  House  of  St.  Paul's  on  the  Midway,  the 
Lake  Shore  Park  House,  Marshall  Field  &  Com- 
pany group;  the  Daughters  of  1918,  the  Chi- 
cago &  Northwestern  Railroad  Club,  the  Chicago 
Hebrew  Institute,  the  Twenty-first  Ward  Woman's 
Club,  the  Woman's  City  Club,  the  Natika  Club,  the  Pub- 
lic Library  Canteen,  the  Sunday  Evening  Club,  the  Al- 
liance Franchise,  the  Art  Institute,  the  Public  Library, 
the  Austin  Group,  the  Oak  Park  Group,  the  Norwood 
Park  Group,  the  Roger's  Park  Group,  Maywood  Re- 
becca Lodge  376,  the  Patriotic  Girls'  Navy  Recreation 
League,  the  Insurance  Exchange  Building  Group,  the 
Allied  Red  Cross  Unit,  the  Colored  Boys'  South  Side 
Club,  the  Young  Woman's  Social  Welfare,  the  Illinois 
Federation  of  Woman's  Clubs,  the  Chicago  Athletic 
Association,  the  Illinois  Athletic  Club,  the  Hamilton 
Club,  the  Union  League  Club,  the  University  Club,  the 
Chicago  Club,  the  Casino  Club  and  the  City  Club. 

If  Chicago,  with  her  great  opportunities  and  equip- 
ment, lavishly  entertained  the  bluejackets,  this  was  no 
less  true  of  the  towns  and  cities  all  along  the  North 


210     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

Shore.  Especially  noteworthy  in  their  hospitality  were 
Evanston,  Wilmette,  Kenilworth,  Winnetka,  Glencoe, 
Ravinia,  Highland  Park,  Highwood,  Lake  Forest,  Lake 
Bluff,  North  Chicago,  Waukegan,  Kenosha,  Racine  and 
Milwaukee. 

Milwaukee,  although  farther  removed  from  Great 
Lakes  than  these  other  cities  and  communities,  was  not 
to  be  outdone.  In  addition  to  entertaining  thousands 
of  sailors  to  home  hospitality  every  week-end,  she  pro- 
vided clubs  for  them.  Many  Milwaukee  women,  not 
working  in  any  special  organization,  arranged  parties 
and  dances  for  the  sailors  and  gave  them  under  the  aus- 
pices of  the  Wisconsin  Players'  Club  and  the  Milwaukee 
Art  Institute.  Many  dinners  and  dances  were  given  at 
the  Milwaukee  Country  Club. 

Racine,  although  counted  among  the  smaller  cities, 
was  proud  of  its  Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  Club,  where  all- 
night  accommodation  jvas  provided  for  sailors,  as  well 
as  many  other  features,  such  as  reading  rooms,  shower 
baths,  etc.  So  anxious  were  the  people  of  both  Racine 
and  Milwaukee  that  no  sailor  should  be  kept  away  from 
their  parties  because  pay  day  was  far  off,  that  special 
"no-fare"  trains  were  often  provided  for  them. 

Waukegan,  a  city  of  20,000  people,  called  the  "Camp 
Town"  because  of  its  proximity  to  Great  Lakes,  was 
fairly  swamped  with  sailors,  particularly  when  pay  days 
were  furthest  off  and  railroad  fare  to  Chicago  was  lack- 
ing. During  the  five  crowded  months  of  1918,  Wau- 
kegan, through  her  war  work  activities,  entertained  an 
average  of  26,875  sailors  a  week.  The  Jolly  Tar  Club 
furnished  rest  rooms,  pool  tables,  conveniences  for 
pressing  and  mending  clothes,  and  reading  and  writing 
rooms.  The  Navy  Club  was  open  daily,  and  supper  was 


ENTERTAINING  THE  "GOBS"  211 

served  on  Saturdays  and  Sundays.  The  Jewish  Wel- 
fare Board  gave  a  supper  and  dance  every  Saturday 
night.  The  churches  furnished  old-fashioned  socials, 
entertainments  and  refreshments.  The  Young  Wom- 
an's Patriotic  League  gave  an  entertainment  and  served 
refreshments  on  Sunday  afternoons  and  evenings.  The 
Glen  Flora  Gold  Club  opened  its  links  to  the  men  and 
officers  from  Great  Lakes.  The  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  the  Y.  W. 
C.  A.,  and  the  fraternal  organizations,  such  as  the  Ma- 
sons, Odd  Fellows  and  Woodmen,  furnished  entertain- 
ment, dances  and  lounging  places  for  the  bluejackets. 

Lake  Forest — the  home  of  the  Gold  Stripers — was 
also  the  rendezvous  for  thousands  of  bluejackets.  For 
many  months  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  served  a  supper  every 
Sunday  evening,  followed  by  community  singing  with 
young  women  of  Lake  Forest  acting  as  hostesses.  The 
War  Emergency  Union  furnished  a  large  clubroom 
which  became  a  popular  place  for  sailors.  Electric 
irons  were  provided  for  pressing  clothes.  One  of  the 
unique  activities  located  in  Lake  Forest  was  the  Army 
and  Navy  Tea  Shop.  This  beautiful  and  cozy  club 
house  was  furnished  and  operated  through  Mrs.  Ogden 
Armour's  kindness.  Its  specialty  was  table  d'hote  din- 
ners, served  every  night  and  at  noon  on  Sundays,  at  a 
price  far  below  cost.  After  dinner  there  was  a  cheer- 
ful fireplace,  a  piano,  victrola,  writing  materials,  maga- 
zines and  games.  Several  bedrooms  were  available  for 
emergency  use.  The  Lake  Forest  Cottage  for  mothers 
of  sick  boys,  who  could  not  afford  a  hotel,  did  much  good 
work,  particularly  during  the  influenza  epidemic.  At 
the  Onwentsia  Hunt  Club  series  of  dances  were  given. 

At  Ravinia,  the  fine  pleasure  park  where  the  Chicago 
Symphony  Orchestra  plays  during  the  summer  months, 


212     THE  GREAT  LAKES  TRAINING  STATION 

and  in  which  abbreviated  grand  opera  is  given,  threw  its 
gates  open  to  the  sailors.  The  sailor's  uniform  ad- 
mitted him,  and  supper,  music,  dancing  and  like  enter- 
tainment were  provided  besides  the  opera  performances. 
The  cost  of  all  this  was  defrayed  by  the  hundreds  of 
subscribers  of  the  Ravinia  Park  Association. 

At  Highwood,  the  Business  Girls'  Club  of  the  Patri- 
otic League  gave  Saturday  night  dances  and  entertained 
the  sailors  on  Sunday  afternoons.  Highland  Park's 
Army  and  Navy  Center  provided  pool  and  billiard 
tables,  reading  and  writing  rooms,  and  a  cafeteria. 
The  Deerfield  Shields  High  School,  located  in  High- 
land Park,  gave  a  dance  every  Saturday  night,  with 
refreshments  and  an  entertainment.  It  also  provided 
vaudeville  and  moving  picture  shows,  canteen  service 
and  cots  for  men  who  desired  all-night  hospitality.  In 
Winnetka,  the  Community  House  furnished  supper, 
dancing,  and  instruction  in  dancing.  Wilmette, 
through  its  Army  and  Navy  Club,  gave  canteen  service 
on  Saturday  nights,  followed  by  a  dance  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Girls'  Patriotic  League.  Evanston  had 
a  "Home  Port  Blighty"  which  was  open  on  Sundays. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


Form  L9-32m-8,'58(5876s4)444 


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434    Great  Lakes 
G7B98  Naval  Training 


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A     000705283     0 


